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5 @settitle Pterodactyl Gnus 0.84 Manual
10 @c * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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265 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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274 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96,97,98,99 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
276 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
277 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
278 are preserved on all copies.
280 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
281 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
282 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
283 permission notice identical to this one.
285 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
286 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
295 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
297 Copyright (C) 1995,96,97,98,99 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
299 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
300 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
301 are preserved on all copies.
304 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
305 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
306 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
307 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
310 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
311 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
312 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
313 permission notice identical to this one.
315 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
316 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
322 @title Pterodactyl Gnus 0.84 Manual
324 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
327 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
328 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97,98,99 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
330 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
331 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
332 are preserved on all copies.
334 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
335 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
336 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
337 permission notice identical to this one.
339 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
340 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
349 @top The Gnus Newsreader
353 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
354 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
355 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
358 This manual corresponds to Pterodactyl Gnus 0.84.
369 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
370 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
372 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
373 being accused of plagiarism:
375 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
376 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
377 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
378 even read news with it!
380 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
381 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
382 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
383 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
384 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
391 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
392 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
393 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
394 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
395 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
396 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
397 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
398 * Various:: General purpose settings.
399 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
400 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
401 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
402 * Key Index:: Key Index.
406 @chapter Starting Gnus
411 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
412 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
415 @findex gnus-other-frame
416 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
417 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
418 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
420 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
421 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
422 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
424 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
425 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
428 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
429 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
430 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
431 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
432 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
433 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
434 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
435 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
436 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
437 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
438 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
442 @node Finding the News
443 @section Finding the News
446 @vindex gnus-select-method
448 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
449 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
450 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
451 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
454 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
455 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
458 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
461 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
464 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
467 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
468 certainly be much faster.
470 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
472 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
473 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
474 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
475 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
476 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
477 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
479 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
480 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
481 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
482 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
484 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
485 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
486 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
487 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
488 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
489 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
490 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
491 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
492 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
495 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
497 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
498 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
499 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
500 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
501 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
502 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
504 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
506 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
507 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
508 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
509 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
510 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
511 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
514 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
515 would typically set this variable to
518 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
523 @section The First Time
524 @cindex first time usage
526 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
527 be subscribed by default.
529 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
530 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
531 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
532 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
535 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
536 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
537 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
539 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
540 help you with most common problems.
542 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
543 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
547 @node The Server is Down
548 @section The Server is Down
549 @cindex server errors
551 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
552 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
553 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
555 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
556 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
557 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
558 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
559 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
560 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
561 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
563 @findex gnus-no-server
564 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
566 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
567 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
568 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
569 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
570 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
571 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
576 @section Slave Gnusae
579 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
580 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
581 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
582 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
584 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
587 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
588 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
589 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
590 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
591 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
592 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
593 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
595 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
596 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
597 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
598 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
599 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
600 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
601 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
602 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
604 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
605 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
608 @node Fetching a Group
609 @section Fetching a Group
610 @cindex fetching a group
612 @findex gnus-fetch-group
613 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
614 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
615 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
616 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
617 It takes the group name as a parameter.
625 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
626 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
627 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
628 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
629 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
630 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
631 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
632 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
633 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
636 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
637 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
638 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
642 @node Checking New Groups
643 @subsection Checking New Groups
645 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
646 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
647 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
648 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
649 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
650 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
651 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
652 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
653 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
654 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
656 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
657 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
658 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
659 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
660 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
661 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
662 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
663 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
664 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
665 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
666 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
668 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
669 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
670 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
671 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
672 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
673 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
676 @node Subscription Methods
677 @subsection Subscription Methods
679 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
680 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
681 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
683 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
684 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
686 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
690 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
691 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
692 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
693 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
694 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
696 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
697 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
698 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
699 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
701 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
702 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
703 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
705 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
706 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
707 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
708 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
709 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
710 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
711 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
712 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
713 up. Or something like that.
715 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
716 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
717 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
718 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
719 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
721 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
722 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
727 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
728 A closely related variable is
729 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
730 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
731 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
732 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
735 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
736 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
737 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
738 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
741 @node Filtering New Groups
742 @subsection Filtering New Groups
744 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
745 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
746 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
749 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
752 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
753 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
754 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
755 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
756 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
757 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
758 subscribing these groups.
759 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
760 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
762 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
763 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
764 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
765 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
766 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
767 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
768 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
769 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
771 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
772 Yet another variable that meddles here is
773 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
774 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
775 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
776 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
777 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
778 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
779 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
780 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
782 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
783 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
786 @node Changing Servers
787 @section Changing Servers
788 @cindex changing servers
790 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
791 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
792 very flaky and you want to use another.
794 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
795 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
799 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
800 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
801 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
802 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
805 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
806 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
807 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
808 functions more than absolutely necessary.
810 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
811 @findex gnus-change-server
812 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
813 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
814 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
815 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
816 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
818 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
819 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
820 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
821 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
822 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
824 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
825 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
826 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
827 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
828 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
829 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
831 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
832 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
833 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
837 @section Startup Files
838 @cindex startup files
843 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
844 information is traditionally stored in this file.
846 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
847 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
848 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
849 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
850 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
851 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
852 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
854 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
855 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
856 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
857 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
858 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
859 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
861 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
862 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
863 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
864 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
865 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
866 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
867 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
868 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
869 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
870 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
872 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
873 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
874 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
875 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
876 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
877 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
878 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
879 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
880 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
881 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
882 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
883 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
885 @vindex gnus-startup-file
886 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
887 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
888 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
890 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
891 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
892 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
893 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
894 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
895 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
896 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
897 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
898 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
899 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
902 (defun turn-off-backup ()
903 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
905 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
906 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
909 @vindex gnus-init-file
910 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
911 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
912 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
913 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
914 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
915 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
916 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
917 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
918 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
927 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
928 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
929 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
930 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
931 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
934 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
935 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
938 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
939 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
940 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
942 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
943 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
944 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
945 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
946 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
947 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
949 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
950 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
951 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
954 @node The Active File
955 @section The Active File
957 @cindex ignored groups
959 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
960 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
961 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
963 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
964 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
965 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
966 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
967 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
968 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
969 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
972 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
973 @c if you set it to anything else.
975 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
977 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
978 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
979 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
981 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
982 you actually subscribe to.
984 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
985 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
986 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
987 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
989 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
990 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
991 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
992 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
993 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
994 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
996 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
997 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
998 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
999 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1000 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1001 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1003 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1004 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1006 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1007 secondary select methods.
1010 @node Startup Variables
1011 @section Startup Variables
1015 @item gnus-load-hook
1016 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1017 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1018 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1019 times you start Gnus.
1021 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1022 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1023 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1025 @item gnus-startup-hook
1026 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1027 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1029 @item gnus-started-hook
1030 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1031 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1034 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1035 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1036 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1037 generating the group buffer.
1039 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1040 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1041 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1042 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1043 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1044 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1045 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1046 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1048 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1049 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1050 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1051 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1052 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1053 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1055 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1056 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1057 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1059 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1060 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1061 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1063 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1064 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1065 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1066 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1071 @node The Group Buffer
1072 @chapter The Group Buffer
1073 @cindex group buffer
1075 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1076 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1077 long as Gnus is active.
1081 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1082 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1083 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1084 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1085 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1086 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1087 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1088 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1094 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1095 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1096 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1097 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1098 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1099 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1100 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1101 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1102 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1103 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1104 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1105 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1106 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1107 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1108 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1109 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1110 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1114 @node Group Buffer Format
1115 @section Group Buffer Format
1118 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1119 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1120 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1124 @node Group Line Specification
1125 @subsection Group Line Specification
1126 @cindex group buffer format
1128 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1129 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1131 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1134 25: news.announce.newusers
1135 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1140 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1141 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1142 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1143 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1145 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1146 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1147 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1148 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1149 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1150 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1152 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1154 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1155 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1156 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1157 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1160 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1161 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1162 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1164 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1169 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1172 Whether the group is subscribed.
1175 Level of subscribedness.
1178 Number of unread articles.
1181 Number of dormant articles.
1184 Number of ticked articles.
1187 Number of read articles.
1190 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1191 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1194 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1197 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1206 Newsgroup description.
1209 @samp{m} if moderated.
1212 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1221 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1225 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1228 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1229 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1230 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1231 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1232 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.emacs.gnus}.
1235 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1237 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1241 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1245 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1246 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1247 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1248 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1249 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1250 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1255 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1256 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1257 group, or a bogus native group.
1260 @node Group Modeline Specification
1261 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1262 @cindex group modeline
1264 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1265 The mode line can be changed by setting
1266 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1267 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1271 The native news server.
1273 The native select method.
1277 @node Group Highlighting
1278 @subsection Group Highlighting
1279 @cindex highlighting
1280 @cindex group highlighting
1282 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1283 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1284 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1285 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1286 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1288 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1292 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-1
1293 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))))
1294 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-2
1295 '((t (:foreground "SeaGreen" :bold t))))
1296 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-3
1297 '((t (:foreground "SpringGreen" :bold t))))
1298 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-4
1299 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))))
1300 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-5
1301 '((t (:foreground "SkyBlue" :bold t))))
1303 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1304 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1305 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1306 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1307 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1308 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1311 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1313 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1320 The number of unread articles in the group.
1324 Whether the group is a mail group.
1326 The level of the group.
1328 The score of the group.
1330 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1332 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1333 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1335 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1336 topic being inserted.
1339 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1340 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1341 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1343 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1344 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1345 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1346 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1347 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1350 @node Group Maneuvering
1351 @section Group Maneuvering
1352 @cindex group movement
1354 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1355 expected, hopefully.
1361 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1362 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1363 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1369 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1370 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1371 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1375 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1376 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1380 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1381 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1385 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1386 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1387 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1391 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1392 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1393 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1396 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1402 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1403 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1404 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1409 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1410 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1411 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1415 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1416 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1417 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1420 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1421 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1422 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1423 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1427 @node Selecting a Group
1428 @section Selecting a Group
1429 @cindex group selection
1434 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1435 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1436 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1437 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1438 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1439 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1440 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1441 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1442 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1443 negative, Gnus fetches the @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1447 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1448 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1449 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1450 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1451 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1455 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1456 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1457 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1458 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1459 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1460 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1461 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1462 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1463 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1464 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1467 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1468 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1469 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1470 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1471 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1474 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1475 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1476 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1477 doing any processing of its contents
1478 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1479 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1480 manner will have no permanent effects.
1484 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1485 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1486 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1487 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1488 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1489 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1490 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1491 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1494 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1495 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1496 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1497 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1502 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1503 full summary buffer.
1506 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1509 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
1514 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
1515 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
1516 Useful functions include:
1519 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
1520 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
1521 don't select the article.
1523 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
1524 Select the first unread article.
1526 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
1527 Select the highest-scored unread article.
1531 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1532 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1533 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1537 @node Subscription Commands
1538 @section Subscription Commands
1539 @cindex subscription
1547 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1548 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
1549 Toggle subscription to the current group
1550 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1556 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1557 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1558 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1559 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1565 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1566 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
1567 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1573 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1574 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1577 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1578 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1579 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1580 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1581 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1587 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1588 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1592 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1593 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1596 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1597 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1598 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1599 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1600 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1601 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1602 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1603 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1604 @file{.newsrc} file.
1608 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1618 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1619 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1620 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
1621 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1622 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1623 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
1628 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1629 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1630 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1634 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1635 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1636 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1638 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1639 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1640 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1641 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1642 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1643 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1650 @section Group Levels
1654 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1655 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1656 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1657 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1658 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1660 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1666 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1667 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1668 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1669 prompted for a level.
1672 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1673 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1674 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1675 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1676 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
1677 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1678 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1679 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1680 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1681 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
1682 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
1683 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
1684 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
1685 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
1686 reasons of efficiency.
1688 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1689 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1691 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1692 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1693 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1695 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1696 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1697 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1698 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1699 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1700 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1701 relevant valid ranges.
1703 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1704 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1705 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
1706 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1707 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1708 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1711 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1712 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1713 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1716 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1717 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1718 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1719 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1722 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1723 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1724 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1725 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1727 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1728 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
1729 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
1730 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
1731 to 5. The default is 6.
1735 @section Group Score
1740 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1741 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1742 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1745 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1746 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1747 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1748 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1749 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1750 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1751 part and the score is the least significant part.))
1753 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1754 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1755 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1756 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1757 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1758 action after each summary exit, you can add
1759 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1760 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1761 slow things down somewhat.
1764 @node Marking Groups
1765 @section Marking Groups
1766 @cindex marking groups
1768 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1769 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1770 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1771 bidding on those groups.
1773 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1774 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1775 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1783 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1784 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1790 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1791 Remove the mark from the current group
1792 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1796 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1797 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1801 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1802 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1806 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1807 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1811 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1812 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1813 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1816 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1818 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1819 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1820 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1821 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1822 the command to be executed.
1825 @node Foreign Groups
1826 @section Foreign Groups
1827 @cindex foreign groups
1829 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1830 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1831 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1832 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1839 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1840 @cindex making groups
1841 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1842 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1843 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1847 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1848 @cindex renaming groups
1849 Rename the current group to something else
1850 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
1851 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1857 @findex gnus-group-customize
1858 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1862 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1863 @cindex renaming groups
1864 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1865 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1869 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1870 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1871 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1875 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1876 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1877 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1881 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1883 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1884 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1889 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1890 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1894 @cindex (ding) archive
1895 @cindex archive group
1896 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1897 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1898 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1899 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1900 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1901 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1902 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1906 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1908 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1909 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1910 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1911 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1915 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1917 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
1918 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1919 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1923 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1924 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1926 Make a group based on some file or other
1927 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1928 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1929 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1930 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
1931 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
1932 this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file type.
1933 @xref{Document Groups}.
1937 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
1938 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
1939 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
1940 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
1944 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1949 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1950 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1951 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1952 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
1953 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1954 @xref{Web Searches}.
1956 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
1957 to a particular group by using a match string like
1958 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
1961 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1962 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1963 This function will delete the current group
1964 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1965 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1966 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1967 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
1968 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
1972 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1973 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1974 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1978 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1979 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1980 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1983 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
1986 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1987 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1988 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1989 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1990 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
1991 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
1995 @node Group Parameters
1996 @section Group Parameters
1997 @cindex group parameters
1999 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2000 Here's an example group parameter list:
2003 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2007 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2008 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2009 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2010 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2012 The following group parameters can be used:
2017 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2020 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2023 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2024 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2025 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2026 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2027 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2029 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2030 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2031 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2032 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2033 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2034 list address instead.
2038 Address used when doing a @kbd{a} in that group.
2041 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2044 It is totally ignored
2045 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2046 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2048 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2049 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2050 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2051 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2052 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2054 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2055 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2056 sending the message.
2060 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2061 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2062 of whether it has any unread articles.
2064 @item broken-reply-to
2065 @cindex broken-reply-to
2066 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2067 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2068 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2069 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2070 broken behavior. So there!
2074 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2075 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2079 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2080 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2081 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2086 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2087 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2088 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2089 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2090 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2091 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2092 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2096 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2097 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2098 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2101 @cindex total-expire
2102 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2103 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2104 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2105 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2110 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2111 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2112 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2113 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2114 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2115 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2118 @cindex score file group parameter
2119 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2120 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2121 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2124 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2125 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2126 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2127 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2130 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2131 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2132 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2133 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2136 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2137 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2141 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2144 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2149 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2150 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2151 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2155 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2156 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2157 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2159 @item @var{(variable form)}
2160 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2161 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2162 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2163 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2164 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2165 @code{eval}ed there.
2167 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2168 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2169 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2170 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2171 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2174 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2175 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2176 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2177 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2178 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2180 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2181 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2182 like this in the group parameters:
2187 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2192 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group. You
2193 might also be interested in reading about topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
2197 @node Listing Groups
2198 @section Listing Groups
2199 @cindex group listing
2201 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2209 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2210 List all groups that have unread articles
2211 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2212 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2213 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2214 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2221 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2222 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2223 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2224 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2225 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2226 unsubscribed groups).
2230 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2231 List all unread groups on a specific level
2232 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2233 with no unread articles.
2237 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2238 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2239 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2240 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2245 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2246 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2250 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2251 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2252 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2256 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2257 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2261 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2262 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2263 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2264 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2265 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2266 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2267 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2268 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2272 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2273 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2274 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2278 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2279 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2280 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2284 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2285 @cindex visible group parameter
2286 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2287 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2288 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2289 get the same effect.
2291 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2292 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2293 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2294 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2295 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2298 @node Sorting Groups
2299 @section Sorting Groups
2300 @cindex sorting groups
2302 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2303 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2304 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2305 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2306 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2307 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2312 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2313 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2314 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2316 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2317 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2318 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2320 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2321 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2322 Sort by group level.
2324 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2325 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2326 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2328 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2329 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2330 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2331 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2333 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2334 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2335 Sort by number of unread articles.
2337 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2338 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2339 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2344 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2345 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2349 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2350 some sorting criteria:
2354 @kindex G S a (Group)
2355 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2356 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2357 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2360 @kindex G S u (Group)
2361 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2362 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2363 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2366 @kindex G S l (Group)
2367 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2368 Sort the group buffer by group level
2369 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2372 @kindex G S v (Group)
2373 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2374 Sort the group buffer by group score
2375 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2378 @kindex G S r (Group)
2379 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2380 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2381 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2384 @kindex G S m (Group)
2385 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2386 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2387 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2391 All the commands below obeys the process/prefix convention
2392 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2394 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2395 commands will sort in reverse order.
2397 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2401 @kindex G P a (Group)
2402 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2403 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
2404 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2407 @kindex G P u (Group)
2408 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2409 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
2410 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2413 @kindex G P l (Group)
2414 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2415 Sort the groups by group level
2416 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2419 @kindex G P v (Group)
2420 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2421 Sort the groups by group score
2422 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2425 @kindex G P r (Group)
2426 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2427 Sort the groups by group rank
2428 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2431 @kindex G P m (Group)
2432 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2433 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
2434 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2440 @node Group Maintenance
2441 @section Group Maintenance
2442 @cindex bogus groups
2447 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2448 Find bogus groups and delete them
2449 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2453 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2454 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2455 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2456 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
2457 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
2461 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2462 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2463 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2464 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2467 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2468 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2469 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2470 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2475 @node Browse Foreign Server
2476 @section Browse Foreign Server
2477 @cindex foreign servers
2478 @cindex browsing servers
2483 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2484 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2485 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2486 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2489 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2490 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2491 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2492 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2494 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2499 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2500 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2504 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2505 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2508 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2509 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2510 Enter the current group and display the first article
2511 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2514 @kindex RET (Browse)
2515 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2516 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2520 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2521 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2522 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2528 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2529 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2533 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2534 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2535 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2540 @section Exiting Gnus
2541 @cindex exiting Gnus
2543 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2548 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2549 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2550 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2551 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2555 @findex gnus-group-exit
2556 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
2557 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2561 @findex gnus-group-quit
2562 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2563 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2566 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2567 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2568 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2569 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2570 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2575 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2576 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2577 trying to customize meta-variables.
2582 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2583 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2584 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2590 @section Group Topics
2593 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2594 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2595 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2596 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2597 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2598 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2602 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
2603 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
2614 2: alt.religion.emacs
2617 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2619 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2620 13: comp.sources.unix
2623 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2625 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2626 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2627 is a toggling command.)
2629 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2630 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2631 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2632 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2635 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2636 the hook for the group mode:
2639 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2643 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2644 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2645 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2646 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2647 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2651 @node Topic Variables
2652 @subsection Topic Variables
2653 @cindex topic variables
2655 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2656 really neat, I think.
2658 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2659 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2660 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2673 Number of groups in the topic.
2675 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2677 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2680 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2681 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2682 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2685 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2686 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2688 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2689 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2690 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2693 @node Topic Commands
2694 @subsection Topic Commands
2695 @cindex topic commands
2697 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2698 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2699 definitions slightly.
2705 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2706 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2707 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2711 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2712 Move the current group to some other topic
2713 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2714 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2718 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2719 Copy the current group to some other topic
2720 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2721 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2725 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2726 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2727 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
2728 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
2729 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
2730 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
2731 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
2734 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2735 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2739 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2740 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2741 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2745 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2746 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2747 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2751 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
2752 Toggle hiding empty topics
2753 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
2757 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2758 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2759 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2762 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2763 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2764 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2765 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2769 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2771 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2772 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2773 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2774 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2777 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
2778 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
2779 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2780 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
2784 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2786 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2787 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2788 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2789 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2790 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2791 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2794 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
2795 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
2796 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the expiry
2797 process (if any) (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}).
2801 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2802 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2803 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2807 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2808 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2809 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2814 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2815 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2818 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2819 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2820 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2824 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2825 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2826 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2830 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2831 @cindex group parameters
2832 @cindex topic parameters
2834 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2835 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2841 @subsection Topic Sorting
2842 @cindex topic sorting
2844 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2850 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2851 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2852 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2853 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2856 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2857 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2858 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2859 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2862 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2863 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2864 Sort the current topic by group level
2865 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2868 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2869 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2870 Sort the current topic by group score
2871 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2874 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2875 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2876 Sort the current topic by group rank
2877 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2880 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2881 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2882 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2883 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2887 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
2890 @node Topic Topology
2891 @subsection Topic Topology
2892 @cindex topic topology
2895 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2901 2: alt.religion.emacs
2904 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2906 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2907 13: comp.sources.unix
2910 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2911 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2912 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2917 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2918 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2922 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2923 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2924 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2925 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2926 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2927 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2929 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2930 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2931 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2934 @node Topic Parameters
2935 @subsection Topic Parameters
2936 @cindex topic parameters
2938 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2939 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
2940 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2942 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2943 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2944 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2945 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2951 2: alt.religion.emacs
2955 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2957 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2958 13: comp.sources.unix
2962 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2963 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2964 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2965 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2966 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2967 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2969 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2970 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2971 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2972 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2973 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2975 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2976 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2977 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2978 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2979 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2980 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2981 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2982 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2985 @node Misc Group Stuff
2986 @section Misc Group Stuff
2989 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2990 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2991 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2992 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2999 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3000 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3001 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
3005 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3006 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
3007 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
3011 @findex gnus-group-mail
3012 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
3016 Variables for the group buffer:
3020 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3021 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3022 is called after the group buffer has been
3025 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3026 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3027 is called after the group buffer is
3028 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3031 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3032 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3033 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3034 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3036 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3037 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3038 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3039 whether they are empty or not.
3044 @node Scanning New Messages
3045 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3046 @cindex new messages
3047 @cindex scanning new news
3053 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3054 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3055 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3056 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3057 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3058 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3063 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3064 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3065 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3066 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3067 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3068 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3069 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3071 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3072 @cindex activating groups
3074 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3075 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3080 @findex gnus-group-restart
3081 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3082 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3083 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
3087 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3088 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3090 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3091 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3095 @node Group Information
3096 @subsection Group Information
3097 @cindex group information
3098 @cindex information on groups
3105 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3106 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3109 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3110 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3111 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3112 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3113 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3114 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3115 for fetching the file.
3117 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
3118 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3122 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3124 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3125 @cindex describing groups
3126 @cindex group description
3127 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3128 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3129 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3133 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3134 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3135 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3142 @findex gnus-version
3143 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3147 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3148 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3151 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3154 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3155 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3159 @node Group Timestamp
3160 @subsection Group Timestamp
3162 @cindex group timestamps
3164 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3165 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3166 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3169 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3172 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3174 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3175 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3178 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3179 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3182 This will result in lines looking like:
3185 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3186 0: custom 19961002T012713
3189 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3190 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3194 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3195 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3200 @subsection File Commands
3201 @cindex file commands
3207 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3208 @vindex gnus-init-file
3209 @cindex reading init file
3210 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3211 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3215 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3216 @cindex saving .newsrc
3217 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3218 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3219 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3222 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3223 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3224 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3229 @node The Summary Buffer
3230 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3231 @cindex summary buffer
3233 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3234 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3236 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3237 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3239 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3242 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3243 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3244 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3245 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3246 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3247 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
3248 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3249 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3250 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3251 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3252 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3253 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3254 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3255 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3256 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3257 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3258 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3259 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3260 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
3261 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3262 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3263 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3264 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3265 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3266 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3267 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3268 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3269 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3270 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3274 @node Summary Buffer Format
3275 @section Summary Buffer Format
3276 @cindex summary buffer format
3280 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3281 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3282 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3288 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3289 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3290 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3291 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3294 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3295 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3296 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3297 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3298 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3299 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3300 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3301 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3302 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3303 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3304 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
3307 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3308 'mail-extract-address-components)
3311 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3312 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3313 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3314 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3317 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3318 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3320 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3321 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3322 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3323 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3324 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3326 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3328 The following format specification characters are understood:
3336 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3337 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3338 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3340 Full @code{From} header.
3342 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3344 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
3345 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
3347 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3348 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3349 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3350 may be more thorough.
3352 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3355 Number of lines in the article.
3357 Number of characters in the article.
3359 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3361 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3362 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3364 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3365 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3367 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3368 for adopted articles.
3370 One space for each thread level.
3372 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3377 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
3378 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
3382 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3384 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3385 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3386 default level. If the difference between
3387 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
3388 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3396 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3398 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3404 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3405 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3407 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3408 article has any children.
3414 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3415 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3416 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3417 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3418 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3419 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3422 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3423 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3424 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3425 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3426 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3427 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3429 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3430 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3432 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3435 @node To From Newsgroups
3436 @subsection To From Newsgroups
3440 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
3441 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
3442 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
3443 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
3444 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
3448 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
3449 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
3450 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
3454 (setq gnus-extra-headers
3455 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
3458 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
3459 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
3462 @findex gnus-extra-header
3463 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
3464 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
3465 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
3468 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
3472 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
3473 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
3474 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
3475 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
3476 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
3477 headers are used instead.
3481 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
3482 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
3483 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
3484 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
3487 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3488 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
3489 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
3490 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
3492 In summary, you'd typically do something like the following:
3495 (setq gnus-extra-headers
3497 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
3498 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
3499 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
3500 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
3504 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
3505 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
3512 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
3513 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
3516 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3517 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3519 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3520 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
3521 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
3522 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3524 Here are the elements you can play with:
3530 Unprefixed group name.
3532 Current article number.
3534 Current article score.
3538 Number of unread articles in this group.
3540 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
3543 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3544 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3545 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3546 and no unselected ones.
3548 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3549 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3551 Subject of the current article.
3553 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
3555 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
3557 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3559 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3561 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3563 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3567 @node Summary Highlighting
3568 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3572 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3573 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3574 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3575 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3576 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3578 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3579 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3580 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3581 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3583 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3584 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3585 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
3586 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3588 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3589 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3590 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3591 list where the elements are of the format @var{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
3592 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
3593 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
3595 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3596 ((> score default) . bold))
3598 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3599 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
3603 @node Summary Maneuvering
3604 @section Summary Maneuvering
3605 @cindex summary movement
3607 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3608 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3610 None of these commands select articles.
3615 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3616 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3617 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3618 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3619 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3623 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3624 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3625 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3626 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3627 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3632 @kindex G j (Summary)
3633 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3634 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
3635 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3638 @kindex G g (Summary)
3639 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3640 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
3641 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3644 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3645 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3646 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3647 to the group buffer.
3649 Variables related to summary movement:
3653 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3654 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3655 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3656 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
3657 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3658 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3659 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
3660 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3661 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
3662 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3663 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3664 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3665 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3666 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3668 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3669 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3670 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3671 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3672 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3673 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
3674 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
3676 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3678 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3679 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3680 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3681 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3682 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3684 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3685 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3686 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3687 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3688 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3689 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3690 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3691 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3694 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
3695 the given number of lines from the top.
3700 @node Choosing Articles
3701 @section Choosing Articles
3702 @cindex selecting articles
3705 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3706 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3710 @node Choosing Commands
3711 @subsection Choosing Commands
3713 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3714 and they all select and display an article.
3718 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3719 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3720 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3721 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3726 @kindex G n (Summary)
3727 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3728 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
3729 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3734 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3735 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
3736 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3741 @kindex G N (Summary)
3742 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3743 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3748 @kindex G P (Summary)
3749 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3750 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3753 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3754 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3755 Go to the next article with the same subject
3756 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3759 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3760 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3761 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3762 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3766 @kindex G f (Summary)
3768 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3769 Go to the first unread article
3770 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3774 @kindex G b (Summary)
3776 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3777 Go to the article with the highest score
3778 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3783 @kindex G l (Summary)
3784 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3785 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3788 @kindex G o (Summary)
3789 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3791 @cindex article history
3792 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3793 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3794 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3795 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
3796 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
3797 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
3801 @node Choosing Variables
3802 @subsection Choosing Variables
3804 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3807 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3808 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3809 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3810 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3811 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3812 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3814 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3815 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3816 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3817 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3819 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3820 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3821 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3822 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3823 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3824 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3825 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3826 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3827 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3828 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3829 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3830 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3831 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3832 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3837 @node Paging the Article
3838 @section Scrolling the Article
3839 @cindex article scrolling
3844 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3845 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3846 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3847 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3848 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3851 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3852 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3853 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3856 @kindex RET (Summary)
3857 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3858 Scroll the current article one line forward
3859 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3862 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
3863 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
3864 Scroll the current article one line backward
3865 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
3869 @kindex A g (Summary)
3871 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3872 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3873 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3874 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3875 the way it came from the server.
3880 @kindex A < (Summary)
3881 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3882 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3883 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3888 @kindex A > (Summary)
3889 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3890 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3894 @kindex A s (Summary)
3896 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3897 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3898 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3902 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
3903 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
3908 @node Reply Followup and Post
3909 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3912 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3913 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3917 @node Summary Mail Commands
3918 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3920 @cindex composing mail
3922 Commands for composing a mail message:
3928 @kindex S r (Summary)
3930 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3931 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
3932 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
3933 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3934 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3939 @kindex S R (Summary)
3940 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3941 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
3942 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3943 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3944 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3947 @kindex S w (Summary)
3948 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
3949 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
3950 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
3951 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
3952 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
3955 @kindex S W (Summary)
3956 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
3957 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
3958 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
3959 the process/prefix convention.
3962 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3963 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3964 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
3965 Forward the current article to some other person
3966 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3967 headers of the forwarded article.
3972 @kindex S m (Summary)
3973 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3974 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
3975 Send a mail to some other person
3976 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3979 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3980 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3981 @cindex bouncing mail
3982 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3983 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3984 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3985 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3986 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3987 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3988 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3989 very well fail, though.
3992 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3993 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3994 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3995 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3996 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3997 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3998 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3999 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
4000 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
4001 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
4003 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
4004 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
4005 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
4006 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
4007 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
4009 This command understands the process/prefix convention
4010 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4013 @kindex S O m (Summary)
4014 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
4015 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
4016 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
4017 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4020 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
4021 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
4022 @cindex crossposting
4023 @cindex excessive crossposting
4024 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
4025 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
4027 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
4028 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
4029 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
4030 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
4031 command understands the process/prefix convention
4032 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
4036 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4039 @node Summary Post Commands
4040 @subsection Summary Post Commands
4042 @cindex composing news
4044 Commands for posting a news article:
4050 @kindex S p (Summary)
4051 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4052 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4053 Post an article to the current group
4054 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4059 @kindex S f (Summary)
4060 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4061 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4062 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4066 @kindex S F (Summary)
4068 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4069 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4070 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4071 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4072 process/prefix convention.
4075 @kindex S n (Summary)
4076 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4077 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4078 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4081 @kindex S N (Summary)
4082 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4083 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4084 message through mail and include the original message
4085 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4086 the process/prefix convention.
4089 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4090 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4091 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4092 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4093 headers of the forwarded article.
4096 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4097 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
4099 @cindex making digests
4100 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4101 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
4102 process/prefix convention.
4105 @kindex S u (Summary)
4106 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4107 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4108 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4109 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4112 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4115 @node Canceling and Superseding
4116 @section Canceling Articles
4117 @cindex canceling articles
4118 @cindex superseding articles
4120 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4121 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4123 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4125 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4127 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4128 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4129 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4130 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4131 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4132 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4134 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4135 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4138 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4139 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4140 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4142 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4143 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4144 your original article.
4146 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4148 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4149 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4150 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4153 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4154 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4155 have posted almost the same article twice.
4157 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4158 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4159 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4160 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4161 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4162 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4163 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4164 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4165 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4166 canceled/superseded.
4168 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4171 @node Marking Articles
4172 @section Marking Articles
4173 @cindex article marking
4174 @cindex article ticking
4177 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4179 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4180 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4181 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4183 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4186 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4187 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4188 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4192 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4196 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4197 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
4198 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4202 @node Unread Articles
4203 @subsection Unread Articles
4205 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4210 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4211 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4213 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4214 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4215 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4216 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
4217 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
4221 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4222 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4224 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4225 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4226 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4229 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4230 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4232 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4237 @subsection Read Articles
4238 @cindex expirable mark
4240 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4245 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4246 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4247 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4250 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4251 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4254 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4255 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4256 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4259 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4260 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4263 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4264 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4267 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4268 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4271 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4272 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4275 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4276 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4279 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4280 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4283 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4284 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4288 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4289 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4290 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4294 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4295 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4297 One more special mark, though:
4301 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4302 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4304 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4305 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4306 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4307 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
4313 @subsection Other Marks
4314 @cindex process mark
4317 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4323 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4324 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4325 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4326 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4327 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
4330 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4331 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4332 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4333 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4336 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4337 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4338 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4341 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4342 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4343 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4344 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4347 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4348 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4349 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4350 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4351 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4354 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4355 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4356 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4357 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4358 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4359 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4363 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4364 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4365 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4367 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4368 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4369 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4373 @subsection Setting Marks
4374 @cindex setting marks
4376 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4381 @kindex M c (Summary)
4382 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4383 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4384 @cindex mark as unread
4385 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4386 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4392 @kindex M t (Summary)
4393 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4394 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4395 @xref{Article Caching}.
4400 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4401 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4402 Mark the current article as dormant
4403 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4407 @kindex M d (Summary)
4409 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4410 Mark the current article as read
4411 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4415 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4416 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4417 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4422 @kindex M k (Summary)
4423 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4424 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4425 and then select the next unread article
4426 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4430 @kindex M K (Summary)
4431 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4432 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4433 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4434 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4437 @kindex M C (Summary)
4438 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4439 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4440 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4443 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4444 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4445 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4446 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4449 @kindex M H (Summary)
4450 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4451 Catchup the current group to point
4452 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4455 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4456 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4457 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4458 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4461 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4462 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4463 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4464 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4468 @kindex M e (Summary)
4470 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4471 Mark the current article as expirable
4472 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4475 @kindex M b (Summary)
4476 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4477 Set a bookmark in the current article
4478 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4481 @kindex M B (Summary)
4482 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4483 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4484 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4487 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4488 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4489 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4490 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4493 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4494 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4495 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4496 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4499 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4500 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4501 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4502 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4503 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4506 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4507 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4508 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4509 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4510 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4511 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4512 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4513 The default is @code{t}.
4516 @node Generic Marking Commands
4517 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
4519 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
4520 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
4521 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
4522 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go the the
4523 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
4526 Multiply these five behaviours with five different marking commands, and
4527 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
4530 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
4531 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
4532 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
4533 to list in this manual.
4535 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
4536 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
4537 @kbd{!} command to go the the next article instead of the next unread
4538 article, you could say something like:
4541 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
4542 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
4543 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
4549 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
4550 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
4554 @node Setting Process Marks
4555 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4556 @cindex setting process marks
4563 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4564 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4565 Mark the current article with the process mark
4566 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4567 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4571 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4572 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4573 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4574 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4577 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4578 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4579 Remove the process mark from all articles
4580 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4583 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4584 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4585 Invert the list of process marked articles
4586 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4589 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4590 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4591 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
4592 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4595 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4596 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4597 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4600 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4601 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4602 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4603 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4606 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4607 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4608 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4609 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4612 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4613 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4614 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4615 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4618 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4619 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4620 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4623 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4624 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4625 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4626 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4629 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4630 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4631 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4634 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4635 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4636 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4637 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4640 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4641 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4642 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4643 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4646 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4647 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4648 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4649 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4652 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4653 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4654 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4655 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4664 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4665 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4666 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4669 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
4670 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
4671 additional articles.
4677 @kindex / / (Summary)
4678 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4679 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4680 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4683 @kindex / a (Summary)
4684 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4685 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4686 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4690 @kindex / u (Summary)
4692 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4693 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
4694 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4695 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4696 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4699 @kindex / m (Summary)
4700 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4701 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
4702 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4705 @kindex / t (Summary)
4706 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4707 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
4708 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4709 articles younger than that number of days.
4712 @kindex / n (Summary)
4713 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4714 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4715 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4716 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4719 @kindex / w (Summary)
4720 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4721 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4722 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4726 @kindex / v (Summary)
4727 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4728 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4729 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4733 @kindex M S (Summary)
4734 @kindex / E (Summary)
4735 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4736 Include all expunged articles in the limit
4737 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4740 @kindex / D (Summary)
4741 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4742 Include all dormant articles in the limit
4743 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4746 @kindex / * (Summary)
4747 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
4748 Include all cached articles in the limit
4749 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
4752 @kindex / d (Summary)
4753 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4754 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
4755 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4758 @kindex / M (Summary)
4759 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
4760 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
4763 @kindex / T (Summary)
4764 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
4765 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
4768 @kindex / c (Summary)
4769 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4770 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
4771 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4774 @kindex / C (Summary)
4775 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4776 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4777 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4778 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4786 @cindex article threading
4788 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
4789 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
4790 hierarchical fashion.
4792 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
4793 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
4794 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
4795 or simply missing. Weird news propagation excarcerbates the problem,
4796 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
4797 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
4798 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
4800 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
4804 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
4807 A tree-like article structure.
4810 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
4813 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
4814 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
4815 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
4816 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
4817 called loose threads.
4819 @item thread gathering
4820 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
4822 @item sparse threads
4823 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
4824 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
4830 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4831 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4835 @node Customizing Threading
4836 @subsection Customizing Threading
4837 @cindex customizing threading
4840 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
4841 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
4842 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
4843 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
4848 @subsubsection Loose Threads
4851 @cindex loose threads
4854 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4855 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4856 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4857 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4858 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4859 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4861 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
4862 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
4863 There are four possible values:
4867 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
4868 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
4869 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4870 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4871 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4876 @cindex adopting articles
4881 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4882 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4883 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4884 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4887 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4888 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4889 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4890 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4891 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4892 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4893 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4896 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4897 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4898 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4902 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4903 display them after one another.
4906 Don't gather loose threads.
4909 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4910 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4911 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4912 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
4913 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4914 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4915 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
4916 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4917 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4918 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
4919 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4921 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4922 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
4923 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
4926 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4927 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4928 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4929 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4930 simplification is used.
4932 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4933 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4934 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4935 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4937 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4939 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4945 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4946 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4947 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4948 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4953 (mapconcat 'identity
4954 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4956 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4959 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4962 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4963 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4964 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
4965 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
4966 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
4967 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
4969 Useful functions to put in this list include:
4972 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
4973 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
4974 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
4976 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4977 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4980 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
4981 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
4982 Remove excessive whitespace.
4985 You may also write your own functions, of course.
4988 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4989 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4990 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4991 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4992 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4993 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4994 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
4995 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4997 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4998 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4999 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
5000 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
5001 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
5002 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
5003 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
5004 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
5005 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
5009 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5010 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5011 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
5012 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
5014 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5015 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5016 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
5019 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
5023 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5024 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
5030 @node Filling In Threads
5031 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
5034 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
5035 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
5036 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
5037 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
5038 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
5039 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
5040 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
5041 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
5042 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
5043 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
5044 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
5045 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
5047 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
5048 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
5049 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
5051 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
5052 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
5053 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
5054 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
5055 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
5056 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
5057 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
5058 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
5059 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
5060 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
5061 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
5062 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
5063 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
5064 @code{nil} by default.
5069 @node More Threading
5070 @subsubsection More Threading
5073 @item gnus-show-threads
5074 @vindex gnus-show-threads
5075 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
5076 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
5077 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
5078 slower and more awkward.
5080 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5081 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5082 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
5085 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
5086 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
5087 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
5088 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5089 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5090 threads are expunged.
5092 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5093 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5094 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5097 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5098 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5099 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5100 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
5101 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
5104 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5105 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5106 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5112 @node Low-Level Threading
5113 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5117 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5118 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5119 Hook run before parsing any headers.
5121 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5122 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5123 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5124 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5125 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5126 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5127 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5128 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5129 meaningful. Here's one example:
5132 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5134 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5135 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5137 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5139 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
5146 @node Thread Commands
5147 @subsection Thread Commands
5148 @cindex thread commands
5154 @kindex T k (Summary)
5155 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
5156 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
5157 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
5158 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
5159 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
5164 @kindex T l (Summary)
5165 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
5166 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
5167 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
5168 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
5171 @kindex T i (Summary)
5172 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
5173 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
5174 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
5177 @kindex T # (Summary)
5178 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5179 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
5180 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5183 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
5184 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5185 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
5186 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5189 @kindex T T (Summary)
5190 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
5191 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
5194 @kindex T s (Summary)
5195 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
5196 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
5197 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5200 @kindex T h (Summary)
5201 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5202 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5205 @kindex T S (Summary)
5206 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5207 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5210 @kindex T H (Summary)
5211 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5212 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5215 @kindex T t (Summary)
5216 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5217 Re-thread the current article's thread
5218 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5219 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5222 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5223 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5224 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5225 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5229 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5230 understand the numeric prefix.
5235 @kindex T n (Summary)
5236 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5237 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5240 @kindex T p (Summary)
5241 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5242 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5245 @kindex T d (Summary)
5246 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5247 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5250 @kindex T u (Summary)
5251 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
5252 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
5255 @kindex T o (Summary)
5256 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
5257 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5260 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5261 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5262 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5263 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5264 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5265 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5266 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5267 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5268 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
5269 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
5270 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
5271 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
5278 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
5279 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
5280 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
5281 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5282 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
5283 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5284 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
5285 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
5286 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
5287 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
5288 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
5290 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
5291 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
5292 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
5293 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
5294 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
5296 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
5297 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
5298 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
5300 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
5301 last function in the list. You should probably always include
5302 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
5303 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
5304 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
5305 ascending article order.
5307 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
5308 by number, you could do something like:
5311 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5312 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5313 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5314 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
5317 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
5318 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
5319 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
5320 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
5321 which the articles arrived.
5323 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
5327 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5329 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
5330 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
5333 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
5334 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
5335 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
5336 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
5339 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
5340 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
5341 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
5342 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
5343 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
5344 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
5345 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
5346 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
5347 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
5348 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
5349 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
5350 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
5351 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
5353 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
5357 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
5358 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
5359 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
5364 @node Asynchronous Fetching
5365 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
5366 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
5367 @cindex article pre-fetch
5370 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
5371 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
5372 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
5373 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
5374 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
5376 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
5377 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
5379 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
5380 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
5381 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
5382 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
5383 connection is blocked.
5385 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
5386 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
5387 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
5388 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
5390 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
5391 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
5392 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
5393 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
5396 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
5399 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
5400 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
5401 happen automatically.
5403 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
5404 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
5405 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
5406 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
5407 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
5408 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
5409 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
5411 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
5412 @findex gnus-async-read-p
5413 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
5414 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
5415 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
5416 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
5417 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
5418 data structure as the only parameter.
5420 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
5423 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
5424 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
5425 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
5426 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
5429 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
5432 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
5433 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
5434 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
5436 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
5437 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
5438 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
5439 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
5443 Remove articles when they are read.
5446 Remove articles when exiting the group.
5449 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
5451 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
5452 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
5453 @c from the next group.
5456 @node Article Caching
5457 @section Article Caching
5458 @cindex article caching
5461 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
5462 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
5463 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
5464 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
5465 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
5467 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
5469 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5470 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
5471 @vindex gnus-use-cache
5472 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
5473 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
5474 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
5475 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
5476 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
5478 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
5479 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
5480 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
5481 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
5482 as dormant, and don't worry.
5484 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
5486 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
5487 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
5488 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
5489 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
5490 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
5491 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
5492 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
5493 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
5494 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
5495 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
5497 @findex gnus-jog-cache
5498 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
5499 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
5500 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
5501 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
5502 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
5503 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
5504 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
5505 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
5506 not then be downloaded by this command.
5508 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
5509 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
5510 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
5511 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
5512 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
5513 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
5515 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
5516 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
5517 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
5518 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
5519 variables, the group is not cached.
5521 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
5522 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
5523 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
5524 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
5525 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
5526 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
5527 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
5528 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
5529 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
5533 @node Persistent Articles
5534 @section Persistent Articles
5535 @cindex persistent articles
5537 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
5538 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
5539 useful in my opinion.
5541 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
5542 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
5543 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
5544 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
5545 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
5546 the expiry going on at the news server.
5548 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
5549 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
5550 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
5556 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
5557 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
5560 @kindex M-* (Summary)
5561 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
5562 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
5563 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
5567 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
5569 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
5570 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
5571 interested in persistent articles:
5574 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
5578 @node Article Backlog
5579 @section Article Backlog
5581 @cindex article backlog
5583 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
5584 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
5585 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
5586 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
5587 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
5588 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
5589 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
5590 increase memory usage some.
5592 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
5593 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
5594 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
5595 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
5596 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
5597 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
5598 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
5600 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
5603 @node Saving Articles
5604 @section Saving Articles
5605 @cindex saving articles
5607 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
5608 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
5609 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
5610 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
5611 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
5613 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
5614 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
5615 unwanted headers before saving the article.
5617 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
5618 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
5619 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
5620 deleted before saving.
5626 @kindex O o (Summary)
5628 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
5629 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
5630 Save the current article using the default article saver
5631 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
5634 @kindex O m (Summary)
5635 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
5636 Save the current article in mail format
5637 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
5640 @kindex O r (Summary)
5641 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
5642 Save the current article in rmail format
5643 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
5646 @kindex O f (Summary)
5647 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5648 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
5649 Save the current article in plain file format
5650 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5653 @kindex O F (Summary)
5654 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5655 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5656 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5659 @kindex O b (Summary)
5660 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5661 Save the current article body in plain file format
5662 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5665 @kindex O h (Summary)
5666 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5667 Save the current article in mh folder format
5668 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5671 @kindex O v (Summary)
5672 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5673 Save the current article in a VM folder
5674 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5677 @kindex O p (Summary)
5678 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5679 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5680 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5683 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5684 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5685 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5686 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5687 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5688 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5689 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5690 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5691 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5692 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5693 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5694 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5698 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5699 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5700 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
5701 functions below, or you can create your own.
5705 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5706 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5707 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5708 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5709 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5710 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5711 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5713 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5714 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5715 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5716 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5717 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5718 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5720 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5721 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5722 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5723 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5724 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5725 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5726 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5728 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5729 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5730 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5731 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5732 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5734 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5735 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5736 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5737 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5738 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5741 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5742 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5743 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5744 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5745 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
5747 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5748 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5749 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5750 reader to use this setting.
5753 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5754 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5755 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5756 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5759 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5760 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5761 available functions that generate names:
5765 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5766 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5767 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5769 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5770 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5771 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5773 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5774 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5775 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5777 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5778 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5779 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5782 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5783 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
5784 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
5785 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
5786 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
5790 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5791 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5792 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5793 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5796 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5797 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5798 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5799 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5800 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5801 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5802 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5803 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5804 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5806 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5807 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5808 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5809 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5811 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5812 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5813 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
5816 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
5817 lots of mail groups called things like
5818 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
5819 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
5820 following will do just that:
5823 (defun my-save-name (group)
5824 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
5825 (substring group (match-end 0))))
5827 (setq gnus-split-methods
5828 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
5833 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5834 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5835 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5836 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5837 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5838 all the files in the top level directory
5839 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5840 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5841 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5842 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5844 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5845 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5846 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5847 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5848 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5851 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5855 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5856 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5859 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5860 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5861 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5862 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5865 @node Decoding Articles
5866 @section Decoding Articles
5867 @cindex decoding articles
5869 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5870 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5873 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5874 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
5875 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5876 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
5877 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5878 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5882 @cindex article series
5883 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5884 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5885 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5886 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5887 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5889 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5890 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5891 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5893 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
5894 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5895 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5897 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5898 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5899 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5902 @node Uuencoded Articles
5903 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5905 @cindex uuencoded articles
5910 @kindex X u (Summary)
5911 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5912 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
5913 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5916 @kindex X U (Summary)
5917 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5918 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5919 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5922 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5923 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5924 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5927 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5928 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5929 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5930 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5934 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5935 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5936 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5937 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5938 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5940 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5941 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5942 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5943 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5946 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5947 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5948 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5949 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5950 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5951 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5955 @node Shell Archives
5956 @subsection Shell Archives
5958 @cindex shell archives
5959 @cindex shared articles
5961 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
5962 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
5963 some commands to deal with these:
5968 @kindex X s (Summary)
5969 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5970 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5973 @kindex X S (Summary)
5974 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5975 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5978 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5979 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5980 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5983 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5984 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5985 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5986 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5990 @node PostScript Files
5991 @subsection PostScript Files
5997 @kindex X p (Summary)
5998 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5999 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
6002 @kindex X P (Summary)
6003 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
6004 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
6005 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
6008 @kindex X v p (Summary)
6009 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
6010 View the current PostScript series
6011 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
6014 @kindex X v P (Summary)
6015 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
6016 View and save the current PostScript series
6017 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
6022 @subsection Other Files
6026 @kindex X o (Summary)
6027 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
6028 Save the current series
6029 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
6032 @kindex X b (Summary)
6033 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
6034 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
6035 doesn't really work yet.
6039 @node Decoding Variables
6040 @subsection Decoding Variables
6042 Adjective, not verb.
6045 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
6046 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
6047 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
6051 @node Rule Variables
6052 @subsubsection Rule Variables
6053 @cindex rule variables
6055 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
6056 variables are of the form
6059 (list '(regexp1 command2)
6066 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6067 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6069 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
6070 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
6073 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6074 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
6077 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6078 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6079 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
6080 user and default view rules.
6082 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6083 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6084 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6089 @node Other Decode Variables
6090 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6093 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6095 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6096 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6097 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6098 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6099 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6103 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6104 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6107 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6108 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6109 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6112 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6113 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6114 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6115 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6116 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6119 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6120 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6121 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6123 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6124 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6125 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6126 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
6127 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
6130 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6131 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6132 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
6134 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6135 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6136 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
6137 looking for files to display.
6139 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
6140 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
6141 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
6144 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6145 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6146 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
6149 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6150 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6151 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
6154 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6155 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6156 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
6159 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6160 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6161 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
6162 decoded articles as unread.
6164 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6165 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6166 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
6167 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
6169 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6170 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6171 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
6173 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6174 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6176 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
6177 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
6178 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
6179 @code{metamail} for viewing.
6181 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6182 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6183 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
6184 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
6185 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
6186 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
6187 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
6188 simply dropped them.
6193 @node Uuencoding and Posting
6194 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
6198 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6199 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6200 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
6201 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
6202 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
6203 for you when you post the article.
6205 @item gnus-uu-post-length
6206 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
6207 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
6208 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
6210 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
6211 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
6212 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
6213 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
6214 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
6215 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
6216 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
6218 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6219 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6220 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6221 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6222 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6223 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6224 Default is @code{t}.
6230 @subsection Viewing Files
6231 @cindex viewing files
6232 @cindex pseudo-articles
6234 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
6235 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6236 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6237 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
6238 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6239 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6240 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6242 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6243 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6244 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6245 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6247 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
6248 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
6249 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
6251 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
6252 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
6253 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
6254 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
6255 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
6257 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
6258 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6259 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6260 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6261 a list of parameters to that command.
6263 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6264 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
6265 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
6267 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
6268 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
6269 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
6272 @node Article Treatment
6273 @section Article Treatment
6275 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
6276 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
6277 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
6278 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
6279 these articles easier.
6282 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
6283 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
6284 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
6285 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
6286 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
6287 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
6288 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
6292 @node Article Highlighting
6293 @subsection Article Highlighting
6294 @cindex highlighting
6296 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
6297 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
6302 @kindex W H a (Summary)
6303 @findex gnus-article-highlight
6304 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
6305 Do much highlighting of the current article
6306 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
6307 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
6310 @kindex W H h (Summary)
6311 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
6312 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
6313 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
6314 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
6315 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
6316 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
6317 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
6318 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
6319 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
6320 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
6323 @kindex W H c (Summary)
6324 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
6325 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
6327 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
6330 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6332 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6333 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
6334 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
6336 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6337 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6338 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
6340 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
6341 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
6342 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
6344 @item gnus-cite-face-list
6345 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
6346 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
6347 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
6348 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
6349 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
6351 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
6352 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
6353 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
6355 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6356 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6357 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
6359 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6360 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6361 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
6362 that it's a citation.
6364 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6365 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6366 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
6368 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6369 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6370 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
6372 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
6373 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
6374 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
6375 cited text belonging to the attribution.
6381 @kindex W H s (Summary)
6382 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6383 @vindex gnus-signature-face
6384 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
6385 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
6386 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
6387 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
6388 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
6393 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
6396 @node Article Fontisizing
6397 @subsection Article Fontisizing
6399 @cindex article emphasis
6401 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
6402 @kindex W e (Summary)
6403 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
6404 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*}. Gnus can make this look nicer by
6405 running the article through the @kbd{W e}
6406 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
6408 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
6409 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
6410 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
6411 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
6412 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
6413 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
6414 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
6415 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
6419 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
6420 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
6421 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
6424 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
6425 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
6426 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
6427 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
6428 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
6429 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
6430 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
6431 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
6432 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
6433 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
6434 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
6435 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
6436 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
6438 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
6439 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
6440 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
6444 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
6447 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
6450 @node Article Hiding
6451 @subsection Article Hiding
6452 @cindex article hiding
6454 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
6455 too much cruft in most articles.
6460 @kindex W W a (Summary)
6461 @findex gnus-article-hide
6462 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
6463 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
6464 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
6467 @kindex W W h (Summary)
6468 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
6469 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
6473 @kindex W W b (Summary)
6474 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6475 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
6476 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
6479 @kindex W W s (Summary)
6480 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
6481 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
6485 @kindex W W p (Summary)
6486 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
6487 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6488 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
6489 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
6490 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
6491 articles that have signatures in them do:
6493 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
6495 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
6497 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
6498 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
6500 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6503 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
6508 @kindex W W P (Summary)
6509 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
6510 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
6511 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
6514 @kindex W W B (Summary)
6515 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
6516 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
6517 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
6518 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
6519 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
6520 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
6521 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
6522 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
6523 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
6524 signature should be removed.
6527 @kindex W W c (Summary)
6528 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
6529 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
6530 customizing the hiding:
6534 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6535 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6536 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6537 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6538 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
6539 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
6540 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
6545 Starting point of the hidden text.
6547 Ending point of the hidden text.
6549 Number of characters in the hidden region.
6551 Number of lines of hidden text.
6554 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
6555 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
6556 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
6561 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
6562 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
6564 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
6565 following two variables:
6568 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6569 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6570 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
6571 50), hide the cited text.
6573 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6574 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6575 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
6580 @kindex W W C (Summary)
6581 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
6582 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
6583 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
6584 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
6585 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
6589 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
6590 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
6591 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
6593 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
6594 citation customization.
6596 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
6600 @node Article Washing
6601 @subsection Article Washing
6603 @cindex article washing
6605 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
6606 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
6608 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
6609 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
6615 @kindex W l (Summary)
6616 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
6617 Remove page breaks from the current article
6618 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
6622 @kindex W r (Summary)
6623 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
6624 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
6625 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
6626 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
6627 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
6628 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
6630 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
6631 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
6632 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
6633 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
6636 @kindex W t (Summary)
6637 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
6638 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
6639 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
6642 @kindex W v (Summary)
6643 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
6644 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
6645 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
6648 @kindex W o (Summary)
6649 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
6650 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
6653 @kindex W d (Summary)
6654 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
6655 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
6657 @cindex M******** sm*rtq**t*s
6659 Treat M******** sm*rtq**t*s according to
6660 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
6661 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
6662 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
6666 @kindex W w (Summary)
6667 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
6668 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
6670 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
6674 @kindex W q (Summary)
6675 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
6676 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
6679 @kindex W C (Summary)
6680 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentencse
6681 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
6682 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
6685 @kindex W c (Summary)
6686 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
6687 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
6688 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
6689 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
6690 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
6693 @kindex W q (Summary)
6694 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
6695 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
6696 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
6697 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
6698 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
6699 readable to me. Note that the this is usually done automatically by
6700 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
6701 header that says that this encoding has been done.
6704 @kindex W f (Summary)
6706 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
6707 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
6708 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
6709 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
6715 Look for and display any X-Face headers
6716 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
6717 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
6718 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
6719 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
6720 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
6721 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
6722 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
6723 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
6724 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
6725 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
6726 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
6727 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
6728 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
6732 @kindex W b (Summary)
6733 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
6734 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
6735 @xref{Article Buttons}.
6738 @kindex W B (Summary)
6739 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
6740 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
6741 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
6744 @kindex W W H (Summary)
6745 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
6746 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
6747 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
6750 @kindex W E l (Summary)
6751 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
6752 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
6753 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
6756 @kindex W E m (Summary)
6757 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
6758 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
6759 lines with a single empty line.
6760 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
6763 @kindex W E t (Summary)
6764 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
6765 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
6766 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
6769 @kindex W E a (Summary)
6770 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
6771 Do all the three commands above
6772 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
6775 @kindex W E A (Summary)
6776 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
6777 Remove all blank lines
6778 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
6781 @kindex W E s (Summary)
6782 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
6783 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
6784 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
6787 @kindex W E e (Summary)
6788 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
6789 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
6790 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
6794 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
6797 @node Article Buttons
6798 @subsection Article Buttons
6801 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
6802 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
6803 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
6804 button on these references.
6806 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
6807 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
6808 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
6813 @item gnus-button-alist
6814 @vindex gnus-button-alist
6815 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
6818 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6824 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6825 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
6826 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6829 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
6830 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
6831 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6834 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6835 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6836 avoid false matches.
6839 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6842 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6843 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6847 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6850 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6853 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6854 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6855 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6856 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6857 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6860 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6863 @var{HEADER} is a regular expression.
6865 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6866 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6867 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6868 default values of the variables above.
6870 @item gnus-article-button-face
6871 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6872 Face used on buttons.
6874 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6875 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6876 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6880 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
6884 @subsection Article Date
6886 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6887 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6888 when the article was sent.
6893 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6894 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6895 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6896 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6899 @kindex W T i (Summary)
6900 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
6902 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
6903 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
6906 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6907 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6908 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6911 @kindex W T s (Summary)
6912 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
6913 @findex gnus-article-date-user
6914 @findex format-time-string
6915 Display the date using a user-defined format
6916 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
6917 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
6918 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
6919 for a list of possible format specs.
6922 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6923 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6924 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
6925 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
6926 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
6927 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
6930 X-Sent: 9 years, 6 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes, 28 seconds ago
6933 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
6934 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
6937 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
6938 into wonderful absurdities.
6940 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
6943 (gnus-start-date-timer)
6946 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
6947 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
6951 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6952 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6953 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6954 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
6955 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6956 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6957 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6961 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
6962 preferred format automatically.
6965 @node Article Signature
6966 @subsection Article Signature
6968 @cindex article signature
6970 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6971 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6972 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6973 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6974 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6975 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6976 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6977 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6978 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6981 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6982 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6983 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6984 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6985 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6986 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6987 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6988 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6991 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6994 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6995 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
7000 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
7003 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
7006 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
7007 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
7009 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
7010 in question is not a signature.
7013 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
7014 listed above. Here's an example:
7017 (setq gnus-signature-limit
7018 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
7021 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
7022 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
7023 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
7024 signature after all.
7028 @section MIME Commands
7029 @cindex MIME decoding
7033 @kindex M-t (Summary)
7034 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
7035 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
7036 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
7039 @kindex W M w (Summary)
7040 Decode RFC2047-encoded words in the article headers
7041 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
7044 @kindex W M c (Summary)
7045 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
7046 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
7048 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
7049 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
7050 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
7051 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
7052 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
7053 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
7056 @kindex W M v (Summary)
7057 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
7058 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
7065 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
7066 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
7067 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7068 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
7071 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
7074 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
7078 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7079 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7080 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7081 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
7082 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
7084 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
7085 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
7086 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
7087 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
7088 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
7089 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
7090 save all jpegs into some directory).
7092 Here's an example function the does the latter:
7095 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
7096 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
7098 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
7099 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
7100 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
7101 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
7102 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
7105 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
7106 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
7107 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
7116 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
7117 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
7118 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
7119 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
7120 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
7121 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
7122 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
7124 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
7125 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
7126 variable, which is an alist of regexps (to match group names) and
7127 default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
7129 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
7130 aren't. These blitely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
7131 if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
7132 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
7133 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
7134 on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
7135 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
7136 something some agents insist on having in there.
7139 @node Article Commands
7140 @section Article Commands
7147 @kindex A P (Summary)
7148 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
7149 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
7150 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
7151 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
7152 run just before printing the buffer.
7157 @node Summary Sorting
7158 @section Summary Sorting
7159 @cindex summary sorting
7161 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
7162 can't really see why you'd want that.
7167 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
7168 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
7169 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
7172 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
7173 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
7174 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
7177 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
7178 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
7179 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
7182 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
7183 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
7184 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
7187 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
7188 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
7189 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
7192 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
7193 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
7194 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
7197 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
7198 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
7199 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
7202 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
7203 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
7204 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
7205 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
7206 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
7210 @node Finding the Parent
7211 @section Finding the Parent
7212 @cindex parent articles
7213 @cindex referring articles
7218 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
7219 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
7220 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
7221 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
7222 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
7223 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
7224 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
7225 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
7226 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
7228 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
7229 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
7230 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
7231 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
7232 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
7236 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
7237 @kindex A R (Summary)
7238 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
7239 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
7242 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
7243 @kindex A T (Summary)
7244 Display the full thread where the current article appears
7245 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
7246 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
7247 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
7248 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
7249 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
7250 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
7252 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
7253 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
7254 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
7255 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
7256 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
7257 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
7260 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
7261 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
7263 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
7264 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
7265 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
7266 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
7267 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
7268 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
7269 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
7272 The current select method will be used when fetching by
7273 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
7274 by giving this command a prefix.
7276 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
7277 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
7278 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
7279 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
7280 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
7281 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
7284 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
7285 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
7286 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
7287 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
7288 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
7289 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
7292 @node Alternative Approaches
7293 @section Alternative Approaches
7295 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
7296 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
7299 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
7300 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
7305 @subsection Pick and Read
7306 @cindex pick and read
7308 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
7309 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
7310 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
7311 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
7313 @findex gnus-pick-mode
7314 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
7315 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
7316 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
7317 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
7318 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
7320 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
7325 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
7326 Pick the article or thread on the current line
7327 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
7328 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
7329 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
7330 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
7331 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
7332 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
7335 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
7336 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
7337 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
7338 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
7342 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
7343 Unpick the thread or article
7344 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
7345 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
7346 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
7347 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
7348 the thread or article at that line.
7352 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
7353 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
7354 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
7355 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
7356 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
7357 will still be visible when you are reading.
7361 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
7362 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
7363 which is mapped to the same function
7364 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
7366 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
7369 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
7372 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
7373 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
7375 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
7376 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
7377 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
7379 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
7380 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
7381 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
7382 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
7383 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
7384 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
7385 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
7389 @subsection Binary Groups
7390 @cindex binary groups
7392 @findex gnus-binary-mode
7393 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
7394 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
7395 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
7396 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
7397 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
7398 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
7401 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
7402 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
7403 command, when you have turned on this mode
7404 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
7406 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
7407 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
7411 @section Tree Display
7414 @vindex gnus-use-trees
7415 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
7416 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
7417 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
7420 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
7423 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
7424 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
7425 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
7427 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7428 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7429 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
7430 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
7431 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
7433 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
7434 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
7435 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
7436 default is @code{modeline}.
7438 @item gnus-tree-line-format
7439 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
7440 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
7441 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
7442 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
7443 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
7444 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
7450 The name of the poster.
7452 The @code{From} header.
7454 The number of the article.
7456 The opening bracket.
7458 The closing bracket.
7463 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
7465 Variables related to the display are:
7468 @item gnus-tree-brackets
7469 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
7470 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
7471 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
7472 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
7473 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
7475 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7476 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7477 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
7478 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
7482 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
7483 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
7484 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
7485 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
7486 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
7487 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
7488 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
7489 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
7490 other windows displayed next to it.
7492 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
7493 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
7494 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7495 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
7496 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
7497 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
7498 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
7502 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
7505 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
7515 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
7519 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
7520 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
7522 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
7524 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
7529 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
7530 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
7531 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
7534 (setq gnus-use-trees t
7535 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7536 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
7537 (gnus-add-configuration
7541 (summary 0.75 point)
7546 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
7549 @node Mail Group Commands
7550 @section Mail Group Commands
7551 @cindex mail group commands
7553 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
7554 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
7556 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
7557 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7562 @kindex B e (Summary)
7563 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
7564 Expire all expirable articles in the group
7565 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
7568 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
7569 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
7570 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
7571 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
7572 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
7573 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
7576 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
7577 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
7578 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
7579 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
7580 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
7581 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
7584 @kindex B m (Summary)
7586 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
7587 Move the article from one mail group to another
7588 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7591 @kindex B c (Summary)
7593 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
7594 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
7595 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
7596 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
7599 @kindex B B (Summary)
7600 @cindex crosspost mail
7601 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
7602 Crosspost the current article to some other group
7603 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
7604 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
7605 be properly updated.
7608 @kindex B i (Summary)
7609 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
7610 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
7611 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
7612 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
7615 @kindex B r (Summary)
7616 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
7617 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
7618 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
7619 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
7620 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
7624 @kindex B w (Summary)
7626 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
7627 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
7628 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
7629 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
7630 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
7631 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
7634 @kindex B q (Summary)
7635 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
7636 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
7637 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
7638 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
7641 @kindex B t (Summary)
7642 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
7643 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
7644 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
7647 @kindex B p (Summary)
7648 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
7649 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
7650 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
7651 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
7652 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
7653 article from your news server (or rather, from
7654 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
7655 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
7656 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
7657 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
7658 just not have arrived yet.
7662 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
7663 @cindex moving articles
7664 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
7665 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
7666 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
7667 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
7668 suggestions you find reasonable.
7671 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
7672 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
7673 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
7674 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
7678 @node Various Summary Stuff
7679 @section Various Summary Stuff
7682 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
7683 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
7684 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
7685 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
7689 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
7690 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
7691 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
7693 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
7694 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
7695 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
7696 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
7697 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
7698 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
7701 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7702 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7703 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
7704 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
7705 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
7707 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
7708 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
7709 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
7712 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7713 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7714 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
7715 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
7716 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
7717 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
7718 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
7719 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
7720 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
7721 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
7726 @node Summary Group Information
7727 @subsection Summary Group Information
7732 @kindex H f (Summary)
7733 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
7734 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
7735 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
7736 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
7737 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
7738 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
7739 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
7740 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
7741 be used for fetching the file.
7744 @kindex H d (Summary)
7745 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
7746 Give a brief description of the current group
7747 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
7748 rereading the description from the server.
7751 @kindex H h (Summary)
7752 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
7753 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
7754 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
7757 @kindex H i (Summary)
7758 @findex gnus-info-find-node
7759 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
7763 @node Searching for Articles
7764 @subsection Searching for Articles
7769 @kindex M-s (Summary)
7770 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
7771 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
7772 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
7775 @kindex M-r (Summary)
7776 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
7777 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
7778 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
7782 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
7783 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
7784 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
7785 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
7789 @kindex M-& (Summary)
7790 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
7791 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
7792 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
7795 @node Summary Generation Commands
7796 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
7801 @kindex Y g (Summary)
7802 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
7803 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
7806 @kindex Y c (Summary)
7807 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
7808 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
7809 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
7814 @node Really Various Summary Commands
7815 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
7821 @kindex C-d (Summary)
7822 @kindex A D (Summary)
7823 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
7824 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
7825 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
7826 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
7827 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
7828 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
7829 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
7830 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
7834 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
7835 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
7836 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
7837 several documents into one biiig group
7838 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
7839 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
7840 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
7841 command understands the process/prefix convention
7842 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7845 @kindex C-t (Summary)
7846 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
7847 Toggle truncation of summary lines
7848 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
7849 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
7850 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
7854 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
7855 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
7856 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
7859 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
7860 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
7861 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7862 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
7865 @kindex M-C-g (Summary)
7866 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
7867 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7868 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
7873 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
7874 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
7875 @cindex summary exit
7876 @cindex exiting groups
7878 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
7879 group and return you to the group buffer.
7885 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
7887 @findex gnus-summary-exit
7888 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
7889 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
7890 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
7891 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
7892 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
7893 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
7894 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
7895 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
7896 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
7897 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
7901 @kindex Z E (Summary)
7903 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
7904 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
7905 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
7909 @kindex Z c (Summary)
7911 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
7912 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
7913 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
7914 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
7917 @kindex Z C (Summary)
7918 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
7919 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
7920 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
7923 @kindex Z n (Summary)
7924 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
7925 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
7926 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
7929 @kindex Z R (Summary)
7930 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
7931 Exit this group, and then enter it again
7932 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
7933 all articles, both read and unread.
7937 @kindex Z G (Summary)
7938 @kindex M-g (Summary)
7939 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
7940 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
7941 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
7942 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
7943 articles, both read and unread.
7946 @kindex Z N (Summary)
7947 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
7948 Exit the group and go to the next group
7949 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
7952 @kindex Z P (Summary)
7953 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
7954 Exit the group and go to the previous group
7955 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
7958 @kindex Z s (Summary)
7959 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
7960 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
7961 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
7962 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
7963 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
7966 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
7967 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
7970 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
7971 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
7972 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
7973 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
7974 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
7975 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
7976 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
7977 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
7978 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
7979 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
7980 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
7981 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
7983 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
7985 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
7986 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
7987 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
7988 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
7989 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
7990 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
7991 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
7992 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
7993 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
7996 @node Crosspost Handling
7997 @section Crosspost Handling
8001 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
8002 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
8003 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
8004 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
8005 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
8006 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
8009 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
8010 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
8011 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
8012 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
8013 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
8015 @cindex cross-posting
8018 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
8019 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
8020 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
8021 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
8022 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
8023 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
8024 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
8025 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
8026 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
8027 the cross reference mechanism.
8029 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
8030 @cindex overview.fmt
8031 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
8032 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
8033 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
8034 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
8035 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
8036 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
8039 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
8040 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
8041 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
8046 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
8049 @node Duplicate Suppression
8050 @section Duplicate Suppression
8052 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
8053 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
8054 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
8055 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
8060 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
8061 is evil and not very common.
8064 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
8065 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
8068 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
8069 different @sc{nntp} servers.
8072 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
8075 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
8076 well, but these four are the most common situations.
8078 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
8079 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
8080 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
8081 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
8082 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
8083 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
8084 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
8087 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
8088 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
8089 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
8090 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
8091 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
8095 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
8096 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
8097 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
8099 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
8100 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
8101 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
8102 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
8103 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
8104 session are suppressed.
8106 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
8107 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
8108 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
8109 suppression list. The default is 10000.
8111 @item gnus-duplicate-file
8112 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
8113 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
8114 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
8117 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
8118 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
8119 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
8120 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
8121 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
8122 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
8123 to you to figure out, I think.
8126 @node The Article Buffer
8127 @chapter The Article Buffer
8128 @cindex article buffer
8130 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
8131 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
8132 tell Gnus otherwise.
8135 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
8136 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
8137 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
8138 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
8139 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
8143 @node Hiding Headers
8144 @section Hiding Headers
8145 @cindex hiding headers
8146 @cindex deleting headers
8148 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
8149 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
8151 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
8152 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
8153 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
8154 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
8155 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
8156 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
8157 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
8158 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
8159 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
8161 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
8165 @item gnus-visible-headers
8166 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
8167 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
8168 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
8169 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
8171 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
8172 the article and the subject, you'd say:
8175 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
8178 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
8181 @item gnus-ignored-headers
8182 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
8183 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
8184 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
8185 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
8186 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
8188 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
8189 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
8192 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
8195 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
8198 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
8199 variable will have no effect.
8203 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
8204 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
8205 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
8206 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
8207 the headers are to be displayed.
8209 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
8210 and then the subject, you might say something like:
8213 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
8216 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
8217 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
8219 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8220 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
8221 You can hide further boring headers by setting
8222 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-header} to @code{head}. What this function
8223 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
8224 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
8225 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
8228 These conditions are:
8231 Remove all empty headers.
8233 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
8234 @code{Newsgroups} header.
8236 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
8239 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
8242 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
8245 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
8247 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
8250 To include the four three elements, you could say something like;
8253 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
8254 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
8257 This is also the default value for this variable.
8261 @section Using @sc{mime}
8264 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
8265 while people stand around yawning.
8267 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
8268 while all newsreaders die of fear.
8270 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
8271 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
8272 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
8274 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
8275 @findex gnus-display-mime
8276 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
8277 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
8278 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
8279 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
8281 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
8285 @findex gnus-article-press-button
8287 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
8288 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
8289 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}).
8291 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
8292 @item M-RET (Article)
8294 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
8295 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
8297 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
8299 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
8300 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
8302 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
8304 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
8305 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}).
8307 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
8309 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
8312 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
8313 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs MIME
8316 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
8317 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
8318 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
8319 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
8320 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
8321 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
8322 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
8323 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
8324 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
8326 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
8329 @node Customizing Articles
8330 @section Customizing Articles
8331 @cindex article customization
8333 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
8334 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
8335 called automatically when you select the articles.
8337 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
8338 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
8339 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
8340 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
8344 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
8347 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
8350 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
8353 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
8356 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
8362 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
8363 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
8364 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
8368 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
8373 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
8374 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
8375 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
8376 considered to contain just a single part.
8378 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
8379 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
8380 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
8381 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
8382 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
8383 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
8384 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
8386 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
8387 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
8391 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature
8392 @item gnus-treat-buttonize
8393 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head
8394 @item gnus-treat-emphasize
8395 @item gnus-treat-fill-article
8396 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr
8397 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers
8398 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
8399 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature
8400 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation
8401 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp
8402 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem
8403 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers
8404 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation
8405 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature
8406 @item gnus-treat-date-ut
8407 @item gnus-treat-date-local
8408 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed
8409 @item gnus-treat-date-original
8410 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body
8411 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines
8412 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines
8413 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8414 @item gnus-treat-strip-blank-lines
8415 @item gnus-treat-overstrike
8416 @item gnus-treat-display-xface
8417 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys
8418 @item gnus-treat-display-picons
8421 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
8422 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
8423 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
8424 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
8425 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
8426 everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead make
8427 them invisible if you want to make them go away.
8430 @node Article Keymap
8431 @section Article Keymap
8433 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
8434 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
8435 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
8436 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
8439 A few additional keystrokes are available:
8444 @kindex SPACE (Article)
8445 @findex gnus-article-next-page
8446 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
8449 @kindex DEL (Article)
8450 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
8451 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
8454 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
8455 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
8456 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
8457 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
8458 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
8461 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
8462 @findex gnus-article-mail
8463 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
8464 given a prefix, include the mail.
8468 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
8469 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
8470 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
8474 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
8475 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
8476 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
8479 @kindex TAB (Article)
8480 @findex gnus-article-next-button
8481 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
8482 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
8485 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
8486 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
8487 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
8493 @section Misc Article
8497 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
8498 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
8499 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
8500 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
8503 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
8504 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
8506 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
8507 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
8509 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
8510 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
8511 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
8512 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
8513 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
8514 the contents of the article buffer.
8516 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
8517 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
8518 Hook called in article mode buffers.
8520 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8521 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8522 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
8523 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
8525 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
8526 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
8527 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
8528 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
8529 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with one
8534 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
8535 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
8538 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
8541 @vindex gnus-break-pages
8543 @item gnus-break-pages
8544 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
8545 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
8546 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
8547 paging will not be done.
8549 @item gnus-page-delimiter
8550 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
8551 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
8556 @node Composing Messages
8557 @chapter Composing Messages
8558 @cindex composing messages
8561 @cindex sending mail
8566 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
8567 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
8568 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
8569 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
8570 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
8571 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
8572 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
8575 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
8576 * Post:: Posting and following up.
8577 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
8578 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
8579 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
8580 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
8581 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
8582 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
8585 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
8586 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
8592 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
8595 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
8596 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
8597 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
8598 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
8600 @item gnus-add-to-list
8601 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
8602 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
8603 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
8611 Variables for composing news articles:
8614 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8615 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8616 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
8617 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
8618 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
8619 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
8620 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
8621 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
8622 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
8625 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8626 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8627 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
8628 file. It is 1000 by default.
8633 @node Posting Server
8634 @section Posting Server
8636 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
8637 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
8639 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
8641 @vindex gnus-post-method
8643 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
8644 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
8645 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
8646 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
8647 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
8650 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
8653 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
8654 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
8655 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
8656 the ``current'' server for posting.
8658 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
8659 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
8661 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
8662 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
8665 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
8666 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
8667 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
8672 @section Mail and Post
8674 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
8678 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
8679 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
8680 @cindex mailing lists
8682 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
8683 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
8684 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
8685 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
8686 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
8687 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
8688 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
8689 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
8690 still a pain, though.
8694 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
8695 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
8696 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
8699 @findex ispell-message
8701 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
8705 @node Archived Messages
8706 @section Archived Messages
8707 @cindex archived messages
8708 @cindex sent messages
8710 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
8711 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
8712 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
8713 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
8716 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
8717 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
8718 use to store sent messages. The default is:
8722 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
8723 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
8724 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
8725 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
8728 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
8729 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
8730 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
8731 directory chosen, you could say something like:
8734 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
8735 '(nnfolder "archive"
8736 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
8737 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
8738 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
8741 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
8743 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
8744 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
8745 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
8747 This variable can be used to do the following:
8751 Messages will be saved in that group.
8752 @item a list of strings
8753 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
8754 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
8755 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
8757 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
8762 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
8764 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
8767 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
8769 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
8772 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
8774 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8775 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
8776 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
8777 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
8782 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8783 '((if (message-news-p)
8788 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
8789 messages in one file per month:
8792 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8793 '((if (message-news-p)
8795 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
8796 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
8799 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
8800 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
8802 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
8803 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
8804 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
8805 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
8806 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
8807 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
8808 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
8809 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
8810 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
8811 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
8813 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
8814 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
8815 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
8816 this will disable archiving.
8819 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
8820 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
8821 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
8822 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
8823 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
8826 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
8827 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
8828 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
8831 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
8832 but the latter is the preferred method.
8836 @node Posting Styles
8837 @section Posting Styles
8838 @cindex posting styles
8841 All them variables, they make my head swim.
8843 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
8844 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
8845 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
8848 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
8849 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
8850 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
8851 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
8852 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
8857 (signature "Peace and happiness")
8858 (organization "What me?"))
8860 (signature "Death to everybody"))
8861 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
8862 (organization "Emacs is it")))
8865 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
8866 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
8867 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
8868 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
8869 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
8870 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
8871 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
8872 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
8874 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
8875 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
8876 If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
8877 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
8878 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
8879 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
8882 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
8883 attribute consists of a @var{(name value)} pair. The attribute name
8884 can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
8885 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
8886 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
8887 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
8890 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
8891 return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
8892 list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
8894 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
8895 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
8896 of the two dynamically bound variables @code{message-this-is-news} and
8897 @code{message-this-is-mail}.
8899 @vindex message-this-is-mail
8900 @vindex message-this-is-news
8902 So here's a new example:
8905 (setq gnus-posting-styles
8907 (signature-file "~/.signature")
8909 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
8910 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
8912 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
8913 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
8914 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
8915 (message-this-is-news
8916 (signature my-news-signature))
8917 (posting-from-work-p
8918 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
8919 (address "user@@bar.foo")
8920 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
8921 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
8923 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
8931 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
8932 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
8933 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
8934 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
8935 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
8937 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
8938 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
8939 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
8940 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
8941 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
8945 @vindex nndraft-directory
8946 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
8947 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
8948 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
8949 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
8950 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
8951 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
8953 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
8954 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
8957 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
8958 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
8959 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
8960 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
8961 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
8962 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
8963 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
8964 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
8965 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
8966 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
8967 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
8968 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
8969 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
8970 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
8972 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
8973 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
8974 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
8976 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
8978 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
8979 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
8980 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
8982 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
8985 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
8986 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
8987 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
8988 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
8989 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
8990 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
8991 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
8994 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
8995 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
8996 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
8999 @node Rejected Articles
9000 @section Rejected Articles
9001 @cindex rejected articles
9003 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
9004 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
9005 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
9006 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
9008 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
9009 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
9010 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
9011 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
9012 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
9014 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
9015 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
9016 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
9019 @node Select Methods
9020 @chapter Select Methods
9021 @cindex foreign groups
9022 @cindex select methods
9024 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
9025 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
9026 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
9027 personal mail group.
9029 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
9030 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
9031 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
9032 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
9033 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
9034 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
9036 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
9037 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
9039 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
9042 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
9043 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
9044 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
9045 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
9046 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
9048 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
9051 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
9052 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
9053 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
9054 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
9055 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
9056 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
9060 @node The Server Buffer
9061 @section The Server Buffer
9063 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
9064 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
9065 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
9066 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
9067 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
9068 backend represents a virtual server.
9070 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
9071 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
9072 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
9073 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
9075 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
9076 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
9077 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
9078 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
9079 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
9080 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
9081 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
9083 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
9084 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
9087 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
9088 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
9089 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
9090 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
9091 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
9092 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
9093 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
9096 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
9097 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
9100 @node Server Buffer Format
9101 @subsection Server Buffer Format
9102 @cindex server buffer format
9104 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
9105 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
9106 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
9107 variable, with some simple extensions:
9112 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
9115 The name of this server.
9118 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
9121 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
9124 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
9125 The mode line can also be customized by using the
9126 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
9127 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
9137 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
9140 @node Server Commands
9141 @subsection Server Commands
9142 @cindex server commands
9148 @findex gnus-server-add-server
9149 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
9153 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
9154 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
9157 @kindex SPACE (Server)
9158 @findex gnus-server-read-server
9159 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
9163 @findex gnus-server-exit
9164 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
9168 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
9169 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
9173 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
9174 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
9178 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
9179 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
9183 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
9184 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
9188 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
9189 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
9190 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
9195 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
9196 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
9197 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
9198 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
9203 @node Example Methods
9204 @subsection Example Methods
9206 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
9209 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
9212 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
9218 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
9219 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
9222 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
9223 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
9225 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
9226 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
9230 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
9233 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
9234 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
9236 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
9237 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
9238 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
9242 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
9245 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
9248 Here's the method for a public spool:
9252 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
9253 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
9256 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
9257 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
9258 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
9259 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
9260 should probably look something like this:
9264 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
9265 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
9266 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
9267 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
9268 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
9271 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
9272 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
9273 server that would look something like this:
9277 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
9278 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
9279 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
9280 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
9281 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
9282 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
9285 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
9286 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
9287 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
9288 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
9291 @node Creating a Virtual Server
9292 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
9294 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
9295 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
9297 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
9298 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
9299 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
9301 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
9303 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
9304 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
9305 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
9306 will contain the following:
9316 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
9317 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
9318 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
9321 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
9322 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
9323 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
9326 @node Server Variables
9327 @subsection Server Variables
9329 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
9330 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
9331 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
9332 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
9333 won't change the "derived" variables.
9335 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
9336 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
9337 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
9338 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
9339 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
9340 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
9341 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
9342 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
9343 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
9347 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
9348 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
9349 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
9353 @node Servers and Methods
9354 @subsection Servers and Methods
9356 Wherever you would normally use a select method
9357 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
9358 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
9359 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
9363 @node Unavailable Servers
9364 @subsection Unavailable Servers
9366 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
9367 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
9368 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
9369 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
9370 actually the case or not.
9372 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
9373 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
9374 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
9375 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
9376 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
9377 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
9378 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
9379 it will regard that server as ``down''.
9381 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
9382 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
9384 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
9385 with the following commands:
9391 @findex gnus-server-open-server
9392 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
9393 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
9397 @findex gnus-server-close-server
9398 Close the connection (if any) to the server
9399 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
9403 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
9404 Mark the current server as unreachable
9405 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
9408 @kindex M-o (Server)
9409 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
9410 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
9411 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
9414 @kindex M-c (Server)
9415 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
9416 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
9417 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
9421 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
9422 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
9423 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
9429 @section Getting News
9430 @cindex reading news
9431 @cindex news backends
9433 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
9434 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
9435 or it can read from a local spool.
9438 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
9439 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
9444 @subsection @sc{nntp}
9447 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
9448 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
9449 server as the, uhm, address.
9451 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
9452 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
9453 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
9454 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
9456 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
9457 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
9458 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
9460 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
9465 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
9466 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
9467 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
9469 @cindex authentification
9470 @cindex nntp authentification
9471 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
9472 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
9473 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
9474 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
9475 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
9476 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
9477 present in this hook.
9479 @item nntp-authinfo-function
9480 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
9481 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
9482 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
9483 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
9484 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
9485 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
9486 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
9487 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
9488 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
9489 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
9490 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
9494 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
9497 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs. The
9498 valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
9499 @samp{default} and @samp{force}. (The latter is not a valid
9500 @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} token, which is the only way the
9501 @file{.authinfo} file format deviates from the @file{.netrc} file
9506 Here's an example file:
9509 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
9510 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
9513 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
9514 have to be first, for instance.
9516 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
9517 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
9518 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
9519 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
9520 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
9521 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
9522 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
9524 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
9525 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
9531 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
9532 previously mentioned.
9534 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
9536 @item nntp-server-action-alist
9537 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
9538 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
9539 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
9540 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
9543 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
9547 You probably don't want to do that, though.
9549 The default value is
9552 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
9553 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
9556 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
9557 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
9559 @item nntp-maximum-request
9560 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
9561 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
9562 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
9563 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
9564 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
9565 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
9566 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
9568 @item nntp-connection-timeout
9569 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
9570 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
9571 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
9572 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
9573 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
9574 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
9575 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
9576 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
9577 no timeouts are done.
9579 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
9580 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
9581 @c @cindex PPP connections
9582 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
9583 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
9584 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
9585 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
9586 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
9587 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
9588 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
9589 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
9590 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
9591 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
9593 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
9594 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
9595 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
9596 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
9599 @item nntp-server-hook
9600 @vindex nntp-server-hook
9601 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
9604 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
9605 @findex nntp-open-telnet
9606 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
9607 @item nntp-open-connection-function
9608 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
9609 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
9610 functions are supplied:
9613 @item nntp-open-network-stream
9614 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
9617 @item nntp-open-rlogin
9618 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
9619 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
9622 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
9626 @item nntp-rlogin-program
9627 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
9628 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
9629 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
9631 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
9632 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
9633 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
9635 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9636 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9637 User name on the remote system.
9641 @item nntp-open-telnet
9642 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
9643 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
9645 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
9648 @item nntp-telnet-command
9649 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
9650 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
9652 @item nntp-telnet-switches
9653 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
9654 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
9656 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
9657 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
9658 User name for log in on the remote system.
9660 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
9661 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
9662 Password to use when logging in.
9664 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
9665 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
9666 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
9669 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9670 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9671 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
9672 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
9674 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9675 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9676 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
9677 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
9678 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
9682 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
9683 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
9684 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
9685 you must have SSLay installed
9686 (@file{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
9687 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distributeion, for instance). You then
9688 define a server as follows:
9691 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
9693 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
9695 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
9696 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
9697 (nntp-port-number "snews")
9698 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
9703 @item nntp-end-of-line
9704 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
9705 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
9706 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
9707 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
9709 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9710 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9711 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
9715 @vindex nntp-address
9716 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
9718 @item nntp-port-number
9719 @vindex nntp-port-number
9720 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
9723 @item nntp-buggy-select
9724 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
9725 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
9727 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
9728 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
9729 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
9730 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
9733 @item nntp-xover-commands
9734 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
9737 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
9738 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
9742 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
9743 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
9744 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
9745 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
9746 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
9747 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
9748 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
9749 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
9750 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
9751 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
9752 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
9754 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
9755 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
9756 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
9758 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9759 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9760 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
9761 server closes connection.
9763 @item nntp-record-commands
9764 @vindex nntp-record-commands
9765 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
9766 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestep) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
9767 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
9768 that doesn't seem to work.
9774 @subsection News Spool
9778 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
9779 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
9780 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
9783 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
9784 anything else) as the address.
9786 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
9787 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
9788 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
9789 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
9793 @item nnspool-inews-program
9794 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
9795 Program used to post an article.
9797 @item nnspool-inews-switches
9798 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
9799 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
9801 @item nnspool-spool-directory
9802 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
9803 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
9804 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
9806 @item nnspool-nov-directory
9807 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
9808 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
9809 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
9811 @item nnspool-lib-dir
9812 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
9813 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
9815 @item nnspool-active-file
9816 @vindex nnspool-active-file
9817 The path to the active file.
9819 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
9820 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
9821 The path to the group descriptions file.
9823 @item nnspool-history-file
9824 @vindex nnspool-history-file
9825 The path to the news history file.
9827 @item nnspool-active-times-file
9828 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
9829 The path to the active date file.
9831 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
9832 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
9833 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
9836 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9837 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9839 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
9840 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
9841 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
9847 @section Getting Mail
9848 @cindex reading mail
9851 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
9855 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
9856 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
9857 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
9858 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
9859 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
9860 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
9861 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
9862 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
9863 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
9864 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
9865 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
9869 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
9870 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
9872 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
9873 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
9874 and things will happen automatically.
9876 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
9877 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
9880 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
9881 '((nnml "private")))
9884 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
9885 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
9886 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
9887 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
9888 like any other group.
9890 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
9893 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9894 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9895 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9899 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
9900 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
9901 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
9904 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
9905 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
9906 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
9909 @node Splitting Mail
9910 @subsection Splitting Mail
9911 @cindex splitting mail
9912 @cindex mail splitting
9914 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
9915 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
9916 to be split into groups.
9919 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9920 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9921 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9925 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
9926 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
9927 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
9928 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
9929 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
9930 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
9931 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
9934 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
9937 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
9938 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
9939 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
9940 mail belongs in that group.
9942 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
9943 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
9944 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
9945 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
9946 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
9947 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
9949 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
9950 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
9951 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
9952 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
9953 thinks should carry this mail message.
9955 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
9956 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
9957 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
9958 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
9960 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
9961 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
9962 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
9963 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
9964 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
9966 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
9969 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
9970 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
9971 links. If that's the case for you, set
9972 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
9973 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
9975 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
9976 @kindex nnmail-split-history
9977 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
9978 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
9980 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
9981 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
9982 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
9983 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
9984 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
9985 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
9986 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
9987 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
9992 @subsection Mail Sources
9994 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
9995 POP mail server, or from a procmail directory, for instance.
9998 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
9999 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
10000 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
10004 @node Mail Source Specifiers
10005 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
10007 @cindex mail server
10010 @cindex mail source
10012 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by creating a @dfn{mail source
10018 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
10021 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
10022 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
10023 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
10026 The following mail source types are available:
10030 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
10036 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
10037 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
10040 An example file mail source:
10043 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
10046 Or using the default path:
10053 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
10054 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
10060 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
10064 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
10068 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
10069 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
10070 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
10071 predicate are considered.
10075 Script run before/after fetching mail.
10079 An example directory mail source:
10082 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
10087 Get mail from a POP server.
10093 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
10094 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
10097 The port number of the POP server. The default is @samp{pop3}.
10100 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
10104 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
10108 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This is should be
10109 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
10112 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
10115 The valid format specifier characters are:
10119 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
10120 included in this string.
10123 The name of the server.
10126 The port number of the server.
10129 The user name to use.
10132 The password to use.
10135 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
10136 corresponding keywords.
10139 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
10140 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
10143 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
10144 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
10147 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
10148 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
10151 @item :authentication
10152 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
10153 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
10158 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
10159 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
10161 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
10162 default user name, and default fetcher:
10168 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
10171 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
10172 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
10175 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
10178 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
10182 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox currently only
10183 supported by qmail, where each file in a special directory contains
10190 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
10191 @samp{~/Maildir/new}.
10193 If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
10194 them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
10195 @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the following example.
10199 An example maildir mail source:
10202 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/cur")
10208 @node Mail Source Customization
10209 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
10211 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
10212 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
10216 @item mail-source-movemail-program
10217 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
10218 A command to be executed to move mail from the inbox. The default is
10221 This can also be a function. In that case, the function will be
10222 called with two parameters -- the name of the INBOX file, and the file
10225 @item mail-source-movemail-args
10226 @vindex mail-source-movemail-args
10227 Extra arguments to give to the command described above.
10229 @item mail-source-crash-box
10230 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
10231 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
10232 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
10234 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
10235 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
10236 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
10238 @item mail-source-directory
10239 @vindex mail-source-directory
10240 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
10241 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
10242 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
10245 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
10246 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
10247 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
10252 @node Fetching Mail
10253 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
10255 @vindex mail-sources
10256 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
10257 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
10258 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
10259 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
10261 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
10262 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
10265 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
10266 mail server, you'd say something like:
10271 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
10272 :password "secret")))
10275 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
10279 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
10280 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
10283 :password "secret")))
10287 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
10288 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
10289 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
10290 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
10291 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
10292 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
10296 @node Mail Backend Variables
10297 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
10299 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
10303 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
10304 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
10305 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
10306 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
10308 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
10309 @item nnmail-split-hook
10310 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
10311 @findex RFC1522 decoding
10312 @findex RFC2047 decoding
10313 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
10314 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
10315 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
10316 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
10317 in the buffer will show up in any files.
10318 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
10321 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
10322 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
10323 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
10324 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
10325 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
10326 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
10327 starting to handle the new mail) and
10328 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
10329 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
10330 default file modes the new mail files get:
10333 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
10334 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
10336 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
10337 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
10340 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
10341 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
10342 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
10343 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
10344 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
10345 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
10346 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
10348 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
10349 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
10350 @findex delete-file
10351 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
10353 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
10354 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
10355 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
10356 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
10357 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
10362 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
10363 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
10364 @cindex mail splitting
10365 @cindex fancy mail splitting
10367 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
10368 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
10369 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
10370 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
10371 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
10372 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
10374 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
10377 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
10378 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
10379 ;; from real errors.
10380 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
10382 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
10383 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
10384 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
10385 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
10386 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
10387 ;; Other mailing lists...
10388 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
10389 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
10391 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
10392 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
10396 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
10397 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
10398 the five possible split syntaxes:
10403 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
10404 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
10408 @var{(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, the first element of
10409 which is a string, then store the message as specified by SPLIT, if
10410 header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp).
10413 @var{(| SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
10414 @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them
10415 matches. A SPLIT is said to match if it will cause the mail message to
10416 be stored in one or more groups.
10419 @var{(& SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
10420 @code{&}, then process all SPLITs in the list.
10423 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
10424 this message. Use with extreme caution.
10427 @var{(: function arg1 arg2 ...)}: If the split is a list, and the first
10428 element is @code{:}, then the second element will be called as a
10429 function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
10433 @var{(! FUNC SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, and the first element
10434 is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be called as a
10435 function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should return a split.
10438 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
10442 In these splits, @var{FIELD} must match a complete field name.
10443 @var{VALUE} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
10444 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
10445 field names or words. In other words, all @var{VALUE}'s are wrapped in
10446 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
10448 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
10449 @var{FIELD} and @var{VALUE} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
10450 are expanded as specified by the variable
10451 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
10452 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
10455 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
10456 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
10457 when all this splitting is performed.
10459 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
10460 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
10461 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
10464 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
10467 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
10468 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
10470 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
10471 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
10472 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
10473 groupings 1 through 9.
10476 @node Incorporating Old Mail
10477 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
10479 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
10480 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
10481 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
10484 Doing so can be quite easy.
10486 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
10487 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
10488 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
10489 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
10490 your @code{nnml} groups.
10496 Go to the group buffer.
10499 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
10500 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10503 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
10506 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
10507 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
10510 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
10511 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
10514 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
10515 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
10516 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
10517 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
10518 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
10520 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
10521 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
10522 using the new mail backend.
10525 @node Expiring Mail
10526 @subsection Expiring Mail
10527 @cindex article expiry
10529 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
10530 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
10531 different approach to mail reading.
10533 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
10534 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
10535 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
10536 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
10537 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
10538 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
10541 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
10542 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
10543 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
10544 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
10545 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
10546 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
10547 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
10548 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
10550 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
10551 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
10552 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
10553 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
10554 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
10555 column in the summary buffer.
10557 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
10558 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
10559 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
10560 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
10563 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
10565 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
10566 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
10567 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
10570 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
10571 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
10572 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
10573 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
10574 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
10576 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
10577 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
10580 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
10581 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
10584 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
10585 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
10587 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
10588 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
10589 don't really mix very well.
10591 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
10592 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
10593 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
10594 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
10597 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
10598 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
10599 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
10600 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
10603 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
10605 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
10607 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
10609 ((string= group "mail.junk")
10611 ((string= group "important")
10617 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
10618 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
10620 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
10621 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
10622 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
10625 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
10626 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
10628 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
10629 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
10630 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
10631 easier for procmail users.
10633 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
10634 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
10635 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
10636 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
10637 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
10638 caution. Even more dangerous is the
10639 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
10640 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
10641 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
10642 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
10643 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
10644 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
10645 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
10648 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
10650 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
10651 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
10652 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
10653 auto-expire turned on.
10657 @subsection Washing Mail
10658 @cindex mail washing
10659 @cindex list server brain damage
10660 @cindex incoming mail treatment
10662 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
10663 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
10664 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
10665 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
10666 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
10667 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
10669 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
10670 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
10671 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
10674 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
10675 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
10676 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
10677 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
10680 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10681 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10682 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
10683 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
10684 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
10687 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10688 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10689 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
10690 Emacs running on MS machines.
10694 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10695 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10696 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
10697 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
10700 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10701 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10702 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
10703 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
10705 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10706 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10707 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
10708 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
10709 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
10710 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
10711 also be a list of regexp.
10713 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
10714 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
10717 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
10718 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
10721 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
10722 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
10723 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
10725 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
10726 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
10728 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
10729 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
10730 @code{References} headers.
10734 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10735 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10736 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
10740 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
10741 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
10742 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
10749 @subsection Duplicates
10751 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
10752 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
10753 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
10754 @cindex duplicate mails
10755 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
10756 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
10757 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
10758 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
10759 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
10760 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
10761 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
10762 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
10763 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
10764 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
10765 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
10766 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
10767 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
10769 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
10770 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
10771 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
10772 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
10774 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
10777 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
10778 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
10782 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
10783 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
10784 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
10785 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
10786 (any mail "mail.misc")
10793 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10794 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
10799 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
10800 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
10801 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
10802 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
10803 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
10806 @node Not Reading Mail
10807 @subsection Not Reading Mail
10809 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
10810 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
10811 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
10813 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
10814 @code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
10815 mail, which should help.
10817 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10818 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10819 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10820 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10821 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10822 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
10823 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
10824 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
10825 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
10826 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
10827 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
10829 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
10830 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
10834 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
10835 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
10837 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
10838 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
10839 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
10841 There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
10842 backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
10843 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
10844 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
10847 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
10848 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
10849 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
10850 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
10851 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
10855 @node Unix Mail Box
10856 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
10858 @cindex unix mail box
10860 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10861 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10862 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
10863 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
10864 which group it belongs in.
10866 Virtual server settings:
10869 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
10870 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10871 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
10873 @item nnmbox-active-file
10874 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10875 The name of the active file for the mail box.
10877 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
10878 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10879 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
10885 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
10889 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10890 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10891 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
10892 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
10893 article to say which group it belongs in.
10895 Virtual server settings:
10898 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
10899 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10900 The name of the rmail mbox file.
10902 @item nnbabyl-active-file
10903 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10904 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
10906 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10907 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10908 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
10913 @subsubsection Mail Spool
10915 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
10917 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
10918 format. It should be used with some caution.
10920 @vindex nnml-directory
10921 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
10922 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
10923 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
10924 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
10926 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
10929 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
10930 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
10931 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
10932 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
10933 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
10934 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
10935 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
10936 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
10938 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
10939 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
10940 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
10941 backend when it comes to reading mail.
10943 Virtual server settings:
10946 @item nnml-directory
10947 @vindex nnml-directory
10948 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
10950 @item nnml-active-file
10951 @vindex nnml-active-file
10952 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
10954 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
10955 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
10956 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
10959 @item nnml-get-new-mail
10960 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10961 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
10963 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
10964 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
10965 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
10967 @item nnml-nov-file-name
10968 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
10969 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
10971 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10972 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10973 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
10977 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
10978 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
10979 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
10980 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
10981 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
10982 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
10983 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
10988 @subsubsection MH Spool
10990 @cindex mh-e mail spool
10992 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
10993 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
10994 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
10995 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
10997 Virtual server settings:
11000 @item nnmh-directory
11001 @vindex nnmh-directory
11002 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
11004 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
11005 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
11006 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
11009 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
11010 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
11011 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
11012 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
11013 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
11014 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
11015 to set this variable to @code{t}.
11020 @subsubsection Mail Folders
11022 @cindex mbox folders
11023 @cindex mail folders
11025 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
11026 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
11027 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
11030 Virtual server settings:
11033 @item nnfolder-directory
11034 @vindex nnfolder-directory
11035 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
11037 @item nnfolder-active-file
11038 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
11039 The name of the active file.
11041 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
11042 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
11043 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
11045 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
11046 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
11047 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
11049 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
11050 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
11051 @cindex backup files
11052 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
11053 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
11054 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
11055 your @file{.emacs} file:
11058 (defun turn-off-backup ()
11059 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
11061 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
11064 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
11065 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
11066 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
11067 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
11068 extract some information from it before removing it.
11073 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
11074 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
11075 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
11076 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
11077 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
11078 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
11082 @node Other Sources
11083 @section Other Sources
11085 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
11086 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
11090 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
11091 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
11092 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
11093 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
11094 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
11095 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
11099 @node Directory Groups
11100 @subsection Directory Groups
11102 @cindex directory groups
11104 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
11105 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
11108 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
11109 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
11110 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
11111 backend to read directories. Big deal.
11113 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
11114 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
11115 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
11116 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
11117 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
11119 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
11121 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
11122 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
11123 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
11124 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
11127 @node Anything Groups
11128 @subsection Anything Groups
11131 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
11132 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
11133 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
11136 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
11137 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
11138 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
11139 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
11140 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
11141 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
11142 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
11143 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
11144 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
11145 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
11148 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
11149 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
11150 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
11151 in the article buffer, just as usual.
11153 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
11154 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
11155 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
11156 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
11158 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
11159 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
11160 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
11161 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
11162 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
11163 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
11164 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
11165 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
11170 @item nneething-map-file-directory
11171 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
11172 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
11173 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
11175 @item nneething-exclude-files
11176 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
11177 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
11178 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
11180 @item nneething-include-files
11181 @vindex nneething-include-files
11182 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
11183 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
11185 @item nneething-map-file
11186 @vindex nneething-map-file
11187 Name of the map files.
11191 @node Document Groups
11192 @subsection Document Groups
11194 @cindex documentation group
11197 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
11198 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
11205 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
11210 The standard Unix mbox file.
11212 @cindex MMDF mail box
11214 The MMDF mail box format.
11217 Several news articles appended into a file.
11220 @cindex rnews batch files
11221 The rnews batch transport format.
11222 @cindex forwarded messages
11225 Forwarded articles.
11228 MIME multipart messages.
11230 @item standard-digest
11231 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
11234 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
11237 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
11238 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
11239 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
11242 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
11243 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
11244 group. And that's it.
11246 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
11247 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
11248 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
11249 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
11250 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
11251 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
11252 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
11253 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
11254 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
11255 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
11257 Virtual server variables:
11260 @item nndoc-article-type
11261 @vindex nndoc-article-type
11262 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
11263 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
11264 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
11265 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or @code{guess}.
11267 @item nndoc-post-type
11268 @vindex nndoc-post-type
11269 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
11270 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
11275 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
11279 @node Document Server Internals
11280 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
11282 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
11283 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
11284 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
11285 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
11287 First, here's an example document type definition:
11291 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
11292 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
11295 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
11296 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
11297 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
11298 types can be defined with very few settings:
11301 @item first-article
11302 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
11303 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
11306 @item article-begin
11307 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
11308 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
11310 @item head-begin-function
11311 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
11314 @item nndoc-head-begin
11315 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
11318 @item nndoc-head-end
11319 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
11320 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
11322 @item body-begin-function
11323 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
11327 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
11330 @item body-end-function
11331 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
11335 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
11338 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
11339 regexp will be totally ignored.
11343 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
11344 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
11345 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
11346 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
11347 something that's palatable for Gnus:
11350 @item prepare-body-function
11351 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
11352 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
11353 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
11355 @item article-transform-function
11356 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
11357 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
11358 body of the article.
11360 @item generate-head-function
11361 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
11362 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
11363 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
11364 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
11368 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
11373 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
11374 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
11375 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
11376 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
11377 (head-end . "^ ?$")
11378 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
11379 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
11380 (subtype digest guess))
11383 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
11384 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
11385 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
11386 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
11387 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
11389 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
11390 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
11391 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
11392 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
11393 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
11394 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
11395 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
11396 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
11397 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
11398 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
11406 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
11407 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
11408 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
11410 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
11411 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
11412 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
11415 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
11416 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
11417 that interested in doing things properly.
11419 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
11420 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
11423 First some terminology:
11428 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
11429 get news and/or mail from.
11432 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
11433 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
11436 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
11440 @item message packets
11441 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
11442 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
11443 default, where @var{X} is a number.
11445 @item response packets
11446 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
11447 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
11448 default, where @var{X} is a number.
11458 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
11459 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
11460 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
11461 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
11464 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
11467 You put the packet in your home directory.
11470 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
11471 the native or secondary server.
11474 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
11475 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
11478 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
11482 You transfer this packet to the server.
11485 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
11488 You then repeat until you die.
11492 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
11493 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
11496 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
11497 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
11498 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
11502 @node SOUP Commands
11503 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
11505 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
11509 @kindex G s b (Group)
11510 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
11511 Pack all unread articles in the current group
11512 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
11513 process/prefix convention.
11516 @kindex G s w (Group)
11517 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
11518 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
11521 @kindex G s s (Group)
11522 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
11523 Send all replies from the replies packet
11524 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
11527 @kindex G s p (Group)
11528 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
11529 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
11532 @kindex G s r (Group)
11533 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
11534 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
11537 @kindex O s (Summary)
11538 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
11539 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
11540 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
11541 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
11546 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
11551 @item gnus-soup-directory
11552 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
11553 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
11554 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
11556 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
11557 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
11558 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
11559 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
11561 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
11562 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
11563 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
11564 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
11566 @item gnus-soup-packer
11567 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
11568 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
11569 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
11571 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
11572 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
11573 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
11574 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
11576 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
11577 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
11578 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
11580 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
11581 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
11582 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
11583 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
11589 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
11592 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
11593 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
11594 you can read them at leisure.
11596 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
11600 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
11601 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
11602 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
11603 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
11605 @item nnsoup-directory
11606 @vindex nnsoup-directory
11607 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
11608 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
11610 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
11611 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
11612 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
11613 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
11615 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
11616 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
11617 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
11618 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
11619 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
11621 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
11622 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
11623 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
11624 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
11626 @item nnsoup-active-file
11627 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
11628 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
11629 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
11630 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
11631 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
11633 @item nnsoup-packer
11634 @vindex nnsoup-packer
11635 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
11636 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
11638 @item nnsoup-unpacker
11639 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
11640 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
11641 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
11643 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
11644 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
11645 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
11648 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
11649 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
11650 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
11653 @item nnsoup-always-save
11654 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
11655 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
11661 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
11663 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
11664 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
11665 more for that to happen.
11667 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
11668 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
11669 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
11672 In specific, this is what it does:
11675 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
11676 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
11679 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
11680 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
11681 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
11685 @subsection Web Searches
11689 @cindex InReference
11690 @cindex Usenet searches
11691 @cindex searching the Usenet
11693 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
11694 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
11695 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
11696 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
11697 searches without having to use a browser.
11699 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
11700 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
11701 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
11702 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
11703 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
11705 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
11706 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
11707 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
11708 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
11709 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
11710 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
11711 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
11712 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
11713 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
11714 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
11717 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
11718 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
11719 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
11720 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
11721 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
11722 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
11724 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
11725 to use @code{nnweb}.
11727 Virtual server variables:
11732 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
11733 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
11737 @vindex nnweb-search
11738 The search string to feed to the search engine.
11740 @item nnweb-max-hits
11741 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
11742 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
11745 @item nnweb-type-definition
11746 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
11747 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
11748 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
11753 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
11757 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
11760 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
11763 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
11767 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
11774 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
11775 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
11776 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
11779 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
11780 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
11781 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
11783 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
11789 @item nngateway-address
11790 @vindex nngateway-address
11791 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
11793 @item nngateway-header-transformation
11794 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
11795 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
11796 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
11797 transformation should be called, and defaults to
11798 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
11799 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
11802 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
11803 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
11804 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
11807 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
11810 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
11813 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
11816 The following pre-defined functions exist:
11818 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11821 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11822 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11823 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
11825 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11827 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11828 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11829 @code{nngateway-address}.
11834 (setq gnus-post-method
11835 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
11836 (nngateway-header-transformation
11837 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
11845 So, to use this, simply say something like:
11848 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
11852 @node Combined Groups
11853 @section Combined Groups
11855 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
11859 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
11860 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
11864 @node Virtual Groups
11865 @subsection Virtual Groups
11867 @cindex virtual groups
11868 @cindex merging groups
11870 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
11873 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
11874 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
11875 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
11877 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
11878 regexp to match component groups.
11880 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
11881 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
11882 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
11883 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
11884 the virtual group.)
11886 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
11887 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
11890 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
11893 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
11894 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
11896 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
11897 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
11898 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
11899 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
11902 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
11905 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
11906 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
11907 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
11909 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
11910 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
11911 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
11912 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
11913 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
11915 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
11916 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
11917 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
11919 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
11920 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
11921 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
11922 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
11923 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
11924 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
11925 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
11926 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
11927 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
11928 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
11929 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
11931 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
11932 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
11933 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
11934 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
11935 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
11936 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
11937 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
11939 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
11940 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
11944 @node Kibozed Groups
11945 @subsection Kibozed Groups
11949 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
11950 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
11951 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
11952 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
11954 @kindex G k (Group)
11955 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
11958 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
11959 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
11960 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
11961 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
11963 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
11964 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
11965 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
11967 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
11968 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
11969 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
11970 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
11971 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
11972 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
11973 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
11974 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
11976 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
11977 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
11978 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
11979 Stranger things have happened.
11981 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
11982 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
11984 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
11985 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
11986 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
11987 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
11988 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
11989 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
11991 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
11992 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
11995 @node Gnus Unplugged
11996 @section Gnus Unplugged
12001 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
12003 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
12004 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
12005 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
12006 read news. Believe it or not.
12008 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
12009 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
12010 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
12011 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
12012 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
12014 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
12015 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
12016 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
12017 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
12018 reading news on a machine.
12020 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
12024 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
12025 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
12029 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
12030 @file{.gnus.el} file:
12037 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
12039 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
12042 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
12043 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
12044 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
12045 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
12046 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
12047 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
12048 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
12049 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
12050 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
12055 @subsection Agent Basics
12057 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
12059 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
12060 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
12061 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
12062 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
12064 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
12065 connected to the net continuously.
12067 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
12068 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
12070 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
12075 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
12076 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
12077 already fetched while in this mode.
12080 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
12081 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
12082 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged}.
12085 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
12086 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{J
12087 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
12088 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
12091 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
12092 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
12093 then you read the news offline.
12096 And then you go to step 2.
12099 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
12105 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
12106 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
12107 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
12108 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
12109 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
12110 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
12113 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
12120 @node Agent Categories
12121 @subsection Agent Categories
12123 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
12124 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
12125 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
12126 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
12127 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
12128 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
12129 you're interested in the articles anyway.
12131 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
12132 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
12133 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
12134 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
12135 managing categories.
12138 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
12139 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
12140 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
12144 @node Category Syntax
12145 @subsubsection Category Syntax
12147 A category consists of two things.
12151 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
12152 are eligible for downloading; and
12155 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
12156 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
12157 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
12160 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
12161 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
12162 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
12163 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
12165 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
12166 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
12167 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as descibed below.
12169 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
12170 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
12171 operators sprinkled in between.
12173 Perhaps some examples are in order.
12175 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
12176 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
12182 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
12183 short (for some value of ``short'').
12185 Here's a more complex predicate:
12194 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
12195 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
12198 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
12199 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
12200 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
12202 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
12203 you want to do, you can write your own.
12207 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
12208 lines; default 100.
12211 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
12212 lines; default 200.
12215 True iff the article has a download score less than
12216 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
12219 True iff the article has a download score greater than
12220 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
12223 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
12224 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
12225 checksum and sees whether articles match.
12234 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
12235 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
12236 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
12239 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
12240 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
12241 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
12242 something along the lines of the following:
12245 (defun my-article-old-p ()
12246 "Say whether an article is old."
12247 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
12248 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
12251 with the predicate then defined as:
12254 (not my-article-old-p)
12257 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
12258 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
12259 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
12260 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
12263 (defvar gnus-category-predicate-alist
12264 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
12265 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
12268 and simply specify your predicate as:
12274 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
12275 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
12276 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
12277 just don't give a damm.
12280 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
12281 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
12282 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
12283 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
12284 parameters like so:
12287 (agent-predicate . short)
12290 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category
12291 default. Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this,
12292 the @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair
12295 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
12298 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
12301 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
12302 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
12303 predicate is assumed to be a list.
12306 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
12307 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
12308 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
12309 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
12310 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
12311 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
12313 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
12314 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
12315 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
12316 if it's to be specific to that group.
12318 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
12325 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
12326 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
12332 Category specification
12336 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
12342 Group Parameter specification
12345 (agent-score ("from"
12346 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
12351 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
12357 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
12364 Category specification
12367 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
12373 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
12377 Group Parameter specification
12380 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
12383 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
12388 Use @code{normal} score files
12390 If you dont want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
12391 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
12392 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
12393 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
12395 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
12396 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
12397 files for a group, *filtering out* those those sections that do not
12398 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
12402 Category Specification
12409 Group Parameter specification
12412 (agent-score . file)
12417 @node The Category Buffer
12418 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
12420 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
12421 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
12422 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
12424 The following commands are available in this buffer:
12428 @kindex q (Category)
12429 @findex gnus-category-exit
12430 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
12433 @kindex k (Category)
12434 @findex gnus-category-kill
12435 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
12438 @kindex c (Category)
12439 @findex gnus-category-copy
12440 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
12443 @kindex a (Category)
12444 @findex gnus-category-add
12445 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
12448 @kindex p (Category)
12449 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
12450 Edit the predicate of the current category
12451 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
12454 @kindex g (Category)
12455 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
12456 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
12457 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
12460 @kindex s (Category)
12461 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
12462 Edit the download score rule of the current category
12463 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
12466 @kindex l (Category)
12467 @findex gnus-category-list
12468 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
12472 @node Category Variables
12473 @subsubsection Category Variables
12476 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
12477 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
12478 Hook run in category buffers.
12480 @item gnus-category-line-format
12481 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
12482 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
12483 Variables}). Valid elements are:
12487 The name of the category.
12490 The number of groups in the category.
12493 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
12494 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
12495 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
12497 @item gnus-agent-short-article
12498 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
12499 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
12501 @item gnus-agent-long-article
12502 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
12503 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
12505 @item gnus-agent-low-score
12506 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
12507 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
12510 @item gnus-agent-high-score
12511 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
12512 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
12518 @node Agent Commands
12519 @subsection Agent Commands
12521 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
12522 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
12523 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
12527 * Group Agent Commands::
12528 * Summary Agent Commands::
12529 * Server Agent Commands::
12532 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
12533 following incantation:
12535 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
12537 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
12542 @node Group Agent Commands
12543 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
12547 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
12548 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
12549 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
12550 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
12553 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
12554 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
12555 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
12558 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
12559 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
12560 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
12561 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
12564 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
12565 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
12566 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
12567 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}). @xref{Drafts}.
12570 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
12571 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
12572 Add the current group to an Agent category
12573 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
12574 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
12577 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
12578 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
12579 Remove the current group from its category, if any
12580 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
12581 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
12586 @node Summary Agent Commands
12587 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
12591 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
12592 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
12593 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
12596 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
12597 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
12598 Remove the downloading mark from the article
12599 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
12602 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
12603 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
12604 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
12607 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
12608 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
12609 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
12614 @node Server Agent Commands
12615 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
12619 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
12620 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
12621 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
12622 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
12625 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
12626 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
12627 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
12628 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
12634 @subsection Agent Expiry
12636 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
12637 @findex gnus-agent-expire
12638 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
12639 @cindex Agent expiry
12640 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
12643 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
12644 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
12645 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
12646 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
12647 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
12648 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
12650 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
12651 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
12652 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
12653 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
12654 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
12657 @node Outgoing Messages
12658 @subsection Outgoing Messages
12660 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
12661 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
12662 after posting, and edit them at will.
12664 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
12665 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
12666 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
12667 messages in the draft group.
12671 @node Agent Variables
12672 @subsection Agent Variables
12675 @item gnus-agent-directory
12676 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
12677 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
12678 @file{~/News/agent/}.
12680 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
12681 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
12682 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
12683 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
12684 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
12687 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
12688 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
12689 Hook run when connecting to the network.
12691 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
12692 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
12693 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
12698 @node Example Setup
12699 @subsection Example Setup
12701 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
12702 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
12703 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
12706 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over NNTP
12707 ;;; from your ISP's server.
12708 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
12710 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
12711 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
12712 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
12714 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
12715 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12717 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
12721 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
12722 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
12725 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
12726 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
12727 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
12728 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
12729 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
12732 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
12733 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
12734 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
12735 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
12736 back all the killed groups.)
12738 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
12739 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
12740 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
12743 @node Batching Agents
12744 @subsection Batching Agents
12746 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
12747 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
12748 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
12752 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
12756 @node Agent Caveats
12757 @subsection Agent Caveats
12759 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
12760 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
12764 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
12769 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
12770 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
12776 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
12777 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
12784 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
12785 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
12786 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
12789 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
12790 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
12791 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
12792 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
12793 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
12795 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
12796 before generating the summary buffer.
12798 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
12799 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
12800 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
12802 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
12803 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
12804 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
12805 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
12808 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
12809 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
12810 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
12811 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
12812 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
12813 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
12814 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
12815 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
12816 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
12817 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
12818 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
12819 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
12820 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
12821 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
12822 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
12823 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
12827 @node Summary Score Commands
12828 @section Summary Score Commands
12829 @cindex score commands
12831 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
12832 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
12833 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
12834 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
12835 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
12837 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
12838 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
12839 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
12840 score file the current one.
12842 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
12847 @kindex V s (Summary)
12848 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
12849 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
12852 @kindex V S (Summary)
12853 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
12854 Display the score of the current article
12855 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
12858 @kindex V t (Summary)
12859 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
12860 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
12861 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
12864 @kindex V R (Summary)
12865 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
12866 Run the current summary through the scoring process
12867 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
12868 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
12869 effect you're having.
12872 @kindex V c (Summary)
12873 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
12874 Make a different score file the current
12875 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
12878 @kindex V e (Summary)
12879 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
12880 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
12881 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
12885 @kindex V f (Summary)
12886 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
12887 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
12888 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
12891 @kindex V F (Summary)
12892 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
12893 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
12894 after editing score files.
12897 @kindex V C (Summary)
12898 @findex gnus-score-customize
12899 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
12900 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
12904 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
12909 @kindex V m (Summary)
12910 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
12911 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
12912 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
12915 @kindex V x (Summary)
12916 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
12917 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
12918 expunge all articles below this score
12919 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
12922 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
12923 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
12926 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
12927 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
12931 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
12932 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
12934 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
12935 keys are available:
12939 Score on the author name.
12942 Score on the subject line.
12945 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
12948 Score on the @code{References} line.
12954 Score on the number of lines.
12957 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
12960 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
12961 the followups to this author.
12975 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
12976 what headers you are scoring on.
12988 Substring matching.
12991 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
13020 Greater than number.
13025 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
13026 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
13027 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
13031 Temporary score entry.
13034 Permanent score entry.
13037 Immediately scoring.
13042 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
13043 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
13044 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
13045 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
13047 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
13048 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
13049 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
13050 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
13051 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
13053 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
13054 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
13055 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
13056 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
13057 current score file.
13059 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
13060 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
13061 pretend they are keymaps or not.
13064 @node Group Score Commands
13065 @section Group Score Commands
13066 @cindex group score commands
13068 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
13073 @kindex W f (Group)
13074 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
13075 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
13076 all the time. This command will flush the cache
13077 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
13081 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
13083 @findex gnus-batch-score
13084 @cindex batch scoring
13086 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
13090 @node Score Variables
13091 @section Score Variables
13092 @cindex score variables
13096 @item gnus-use-scoring
13097 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
13098 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
13099 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
13101 @item gnus-kill-killed
13102 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
13103 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
13104 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
13105 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
13106 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
13107 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
13108 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
13110 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
13111 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
13112 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
13113 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
13114 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
13116 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
13117 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
13118 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
13119 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
13121 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
13122 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
13123 @cindex score cache
13124 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
13125 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
13126 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
13127 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
13128 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
13129 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
13132 @item gnus-save-score
13133 @vindex gnus-save-score
13134 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
13135 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
13136 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
13138 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
13139 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
13140 across group visits.
13142 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
13143 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
13144 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
13145 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
13146 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
13147 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
13148 manually entered data.
13150 @item gnus-summary-default-score
13151 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
13152 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
13154 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
13155 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
13156 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
13157 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
13158 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
13159 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
13161 @item gnus-score-over-mark
13162 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
13163 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
13164 default. Default is @samp{+}.
13166 @item gnus-score-below-mark
13167 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
13168 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
13169 default. Default is @samp{-}.
13171 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
13172 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
13173 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
13174 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
13176 Predefined functions available are:
13179 @item gnus-score-find-single
13180 @findex gnus-score-find-single
13181 Only apply the group's own score file.
13183 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
13184 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
13185 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
13186 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
13187 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
13188 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
13189 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
13190 then a regexp match is done.
13192 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
13193 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
13195 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
13196 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
13197 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
13198 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
13200 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
13201 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
13202 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
13203 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
13204 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
13207 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
13208 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
13209 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
13210 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
13211 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
13212 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
13215 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
13216 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
13217 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
13218 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
13219 are expired. It's 7 by default.
13221 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
13222 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
13223 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
13224 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
13225 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
13226 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
13227 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
13230 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
13231 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
13232 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
13234 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
13235 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
13236 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
13237 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
13238 threading---according to the current value of
13239 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
13240 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
13241 simplified in this manner.
13246 @node Score File Format
13247 @section Score File Format
13248 @cindex score file format
13250 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
13251 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
13252 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
13254 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
13258 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
13260 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
13262 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
13264 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
13269 (mark-and-expunge -10)
13273 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
13274 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
13275 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
13276 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
13280 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
13281 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
13283 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
13284 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
13285 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
13287 Six keys are supported by this alist:
13292 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
13293 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
13294 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
13295 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
13296 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
13297 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
13298 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
13299 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
13300 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
13301 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
13302 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
13303 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
13304 to articles that matches these score entries.
13306 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
13307 score entry has one to four elements.
13311 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
13312 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
13316 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
13317 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
13318 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
13319 is successful. If this element is not present, the
13320 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
13321 instead. This is 1000 by default.
13324 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
13325 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
13326 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
13327 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
13328 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
13331 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
13332 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
13333 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
13334 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
13337 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
13338 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
13339 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
13340 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
13341 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
13342 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
13343 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
13344 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
13345 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
13346 instead, if you feel like.
13349 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
13350 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
13352 These predicates are true if
13355 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
13358 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
13359 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
13366 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
13367 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
13368 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
13369 it's not. I think.)
13371 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
13372 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
13373 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
13374 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
13377 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
13378 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
13379 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
13380 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
13381 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
13382 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
13383 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
13387 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
13388 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
13389 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
13390 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
13391 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
13392 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
13393 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
13394 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
13397 @item Head, Body, All
13398 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
13402 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
13403 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
13404 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
13405 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
13406 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
13407 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
13408 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
13412 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
13413 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{X}, then you add a
13414 @samp{thread} match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each
13415 article that has @var{X} in its @code{References} header. (These new
13416 @samp{thread} matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching
13417 articles.) This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an
13418 entire thread, even though some articles in the thread may not have
13419 complete @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
13420 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
13421 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
13425 @cindex Score File Atoms
13427 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
13428 lower than this number will be marked as read.
13431 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
13432 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
13434 @item mark-and-expunge
13435 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
13436 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
13439 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
13440 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
13441 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
13442 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
13443 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
13446 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
13447 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
13450 @item exclude-files
13451 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
13452 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
13456 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
13457 ignored when handling global score files.
13460 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
13461 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
13462 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
13463 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
13466 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
13467 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
13468 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
13469 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
13471 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
13475 (mark-and-expunge -100)
13478 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
13479 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
13480 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
13481 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
13482 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
13484 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
13485 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
13486 ordinary scoring rules.
13489 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
13490 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
13491 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
13492 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
13493 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
13494 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
13495 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
13496 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
13497 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
13498 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
13499 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
13503 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
13504 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
13505 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
13506 file for a number of groups.
13509 @cindex local variables
13510 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
13511 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
13512 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
13513 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
13514 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
13518 @node Score File Editing
13519 @section Score File Editing
13521 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
13522 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
13523 with a mode for that.
13525 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
13526 additional commands:
13531 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
13532 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
13533 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
13534 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
13537 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
13538 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
13539 Insert the current date in numerical format
13540 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
13541 you were wondering.
13544 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
13545 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
13546 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
13547 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
13548 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
13553 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
13555 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
13556 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
13558 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
13559 e} to begin editing score files.
13562 @node Adaptive Scoring
13563 @section Adaptive Scoring
13564 @cindex adaptive scoring
13566 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
13567 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
13568 stupidity, to be precise.
13570 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
13571 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
13572 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
13573 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
13574 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
13575 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
13576 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
13577 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
13578 variable to @code{(word line)}.
13580 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
13581 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
13582 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
13583 might look something like this:
13586 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
13587 '((gnus-unread-mark)
13588 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
13589 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
13590 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
13591 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
13592 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
13593 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
13594 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
13595 (gnus-ancient-mark)
13596 (gnus-low-score-mark)
13597 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
13600 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
13601 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
13602 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
13603 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
13604 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
13605 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
13608 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
13609 will be applied to each article.
13611 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
13612 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
13613 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
13614 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
13616 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
13617 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
13618 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
13619 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
13621 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
13622 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
13623 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
13624 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
13626 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
13627 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
13628 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
13629 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
13630 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
13631 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
13633 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
13634 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
13635 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
13636 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
13637 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
13638 aspirins afterwards.)
13640 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
13641 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
13642 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
13644 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
13645 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
13646 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
13648 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
13649 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
13650 let you use different rules in different groups.
13652 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
13653 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
13654 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
13657 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
13658 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
13659 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
13660 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
13661 the length of the match is less than
13662 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
13663 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
13666 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
13667 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
13668 headers. If you adapt on words, the
13669 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
13670 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
13673 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
13674 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
13675 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
13676 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
13677 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
13680 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
13681 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
13682 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
13683 score with 30 points.
13685 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
13686 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
13687 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
13688 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
13689 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
13691 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
13692 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
13693 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
13694 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
13696 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
13697 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
13698 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
13699 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
13701 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
13702 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
13703 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
13704 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
13705 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
13707 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
13708 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
13709 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
13711 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
13712 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
13713 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
13714 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
13717 @node Home Score File
13718 @section Home Score File
13720 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
13721 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
13722 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
13723 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
13725 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
13726 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
13727 could perhaps use the same home score file.
13729 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
13730 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
13735 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
13739 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
13740 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
13744 A list. The elements in this list can be:
13748 @var{(regexp file-name)}. If the @var{regexp} matches the group name,
13749 the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
13752 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
13753 the home score file.
13756 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
13759 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
13764 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
13767 (setq gnus-home-score-file
13768 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
13771 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
13772 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
13774 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
13776 (setq gnus-home-score-file
13777 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
13780 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
13781 Other functions include
13784 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
13785 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
13786 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
13787 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
13791 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
13792 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
13793 their own home score files:
13796 (setq gnus-home-score-file
13797 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
13798 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
13799 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
13800 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
13803 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
13804 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
13805 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
13806 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
13807 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
13809 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
13810 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
13811 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
13812 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
13813 precedence over this variable.
13816 @node Followups To Yourself
13817 @section Followups To Yourself
13819 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
13820 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
13821 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
13822 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
13823 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
13824 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
13828 @item gnus-score-followup-article
13829 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
13830 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
13833 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
13834 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
13835 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
13839 @vindex message-sent-hook
13840 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
13841 @code{message-sent-hook}.
13843 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
13844 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
13848 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
13849 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
13852 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
13853 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
13858 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
13862 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
13863 is system-dependent.
13867 @section Scoring Tips
13868 @cindex scoring tips
13874 @cindex scoring crossposts
13875 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
13876 the @code{Xref} header.
13878 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
13881 @item Multiple crossposts
13882 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
13883 more than, say, 3 groups:
13885 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
13888 @item Matching on the body
13889 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
13890 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
13891 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
13892 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
13893 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
13894 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
13895 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
13898 @item Marking as read
13899 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
13900 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
13901 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
13905 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
13907 @item Negated character classes
13908 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
13909 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
13910 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
13914 @node Reverse Scoring
13915 @section Reverse Scoring
13916 @cindex reverse scoring
13918 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
13919 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
13920 like this in your score file:
13924 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
13929 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
13930 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
13933 @node Global Score Files
13934 @section Global Score Files
13935 @cindex global score files
13937 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
13938 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
13939 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
13941 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
13942 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
13943 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
13945 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
13946 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
13947 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
13948 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
13949 files are applicable to which group.
13951 Say you want to use the score file
13952 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
13953 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
13956 (setq gnus-global-score-files
13957 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
13958 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
13961 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
13962 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
13963 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
13964 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
13965 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
13967 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
13968 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
13970 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
13971 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
13972 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
13973 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
13974 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
13975 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
13977 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
13983 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
13985 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
13987 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
13989 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
13990 lowered out of existence.
13992 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
13993 articles completely.
13996 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
13997 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
13998 old articles for a long time.
14001 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
14002 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
14003 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
14004 holding our breath yet?
14008 @section Kill Files
14011 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
14012 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
14013 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
14015 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
14016 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
14017 files into score files.
14019 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
14020 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
14021 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
14022 that isn't a very good idea.
14024 Normal kill files look like this:
14027 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14028 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
14032 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
14033 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
14035 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
14036 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
14039 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
14044 @kindex M-k (Summary)
14045 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
14046 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
14049 @kindex M-K (Summary)
14050 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
14051 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
14054 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
14059 @kindex M-k (Group)
14060 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
14061 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
14064 @kindex M-K (Group)
14065 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
14066 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
14069 Kill file variables:
14072 @item gnus-kill-file-name
14073 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
14074 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
14075 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
14076 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
14077 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
14078 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
14080 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
14081 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
14082 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
14083 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
14086 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
14087 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
14088 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
14089 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
14090 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
14091 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
14092 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
14093 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
14094 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
14096 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
14097 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
14098 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
14103 @node Converting Kill Files
14104 @section Converting Kill Files
14106 @cindex converting kill files
14108 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
14109 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
14110 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
14113 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
14114 You can fetch it from
14115 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
14117 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
14118 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
14119 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
14127 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
14128 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
14129 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
14131 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
14132 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
14133 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
14134 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
14135 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
14136 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
14137 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
14138 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
14142 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
14143 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
14144 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
14145 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
14149 @node Using GroupLens
14150 @subsection Using GroupLens
14152 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
14154 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
14155 better bit in town at the moment.
14157 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
14161 @item gnus-use-grouplens
14162 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
14163 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
14164 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
14166 @item grouplens-pseudonym
14167 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
14168 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
14169 with the Better Bit Bureau.
14171 @item grouplens-newsgroups
14172 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
14173 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
14177 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
14178 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
14179 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
14180 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
14181 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
14182 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
14185 @node Rating Articles
14186 @subsection Rating Articles
14188 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
14189 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
14190 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
14191 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
14194 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
14199 @kindex r (GroupLens)
14200 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
14201 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
14204 @kindex k (GroupLens)
14205 @findex grouplens-score-thread
14206 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
14207 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
14208 threads in rec.humor.
14212 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
14213 the score of the article you're reading.
14218 @kindex n (GroupLens)
14219 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
14220 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
14223 @kindex , (GroupLens)
14224 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
14225 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
14229 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
14230 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
14233 @node Displaying Predictions
14234 @subsection Displaying Predictions
14236 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
14237 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
14238 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
14239 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
14240 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
14242 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
14243 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
14244 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
14245 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
14246 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
14247 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
14248 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
14249 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
14250 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
14251 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
14252 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
14253 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
14254 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
14256 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
14257 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
14258 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
14259 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
14261 The following are valid values for that variable.
14264 @item prediction-spot
14265 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
14268 @item confidence-interval
14269 A numeric confidence interval.
14271 @item prediction-bar
14272 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
14274 @item confidence-bar
14275 Numerical confidence.
14277 @item confidence-spot
14278 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
14280 @item prediction-num
14281 Plain-old numeric value.
14283 @item confidence-plus-minus
14284 Prediction +/- confidence.
14289 @node GroupLens Variables
14290 @subsection GroupLens Variables
14294 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
14295 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
14296 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
14297 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
14300 @item grouplens-bbb-host
14301 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
14304 @item grouplens-bbb-port
14305 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
14307 @item grouplens-score-offset
14308 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
14309 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
14312 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
14313 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
14314 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
14319 @node Advanced Scoring
14320 @section Advanced Scoring
14322 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
14323 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
14324 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
14325 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
14326 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
14328 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
14332 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
14333 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
14334 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
14338 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
14339 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
14341 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
14342 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
14343 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
14344 non-@code{nil} value.
14346 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
14347 operator, and various match operators.
14354 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
14355 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
14356 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
14361 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
14362 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
14363 then this operator will return @code{false}.
14368 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
14369 logical negation of the value of its argument.
14373 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
14374 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
14375 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
14376 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
14377 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
14378 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
14379 the ancestry you want to go.
14381 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
14382 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
14383 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
14384 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
14385 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
14388 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
14389 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
14391 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
14392 when he's talking about Gnus:
14396 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14397 ("subject" "Gnus"))
14403 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
14407 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14414 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
14415 really don't want to read what he's written:
14419 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14420 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
14424 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
14425 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
14426 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
14433 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
14434 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
14435 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
14436 ("body" "white.*socks"))
14440 The possibilities are endless.
14443 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
14444 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
14446 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
14447 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
14448 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
14449 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
14450 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
14451 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
14452 @samp{subject}) first.
14454 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
14455 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
14466 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
14467 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
14473 ("subject" "Gnus")))
14480 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
14481 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
14486 @section Score Decays
14487 @cindex score decays
14490 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
14491 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
14492 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
14493 use them in any sensible way.
14495 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
14496 @findex gnus-decay-score
14497 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
14498 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
14499 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
14500 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
14501 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
14502 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
14503 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
14504 definition of that function:
14507 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
14509 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
14510 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
14513 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
14515 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
14517 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
14520 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
14521 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
14522 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
14523 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
14527 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
14530 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
14533 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
14537 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
14538 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
14539 the new score, which should be an integer.
14541 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
14542 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
14549 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
14550 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
14551 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
14552 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
14553 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
14554 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
14555 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
14556 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
14557 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
14558 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
14559 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
14560 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
14561 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
14562 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
14563 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
14564 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
14565 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
14566 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
14570 @node Process/Prefix
14571 @section Process/Prefix
14572 @cindex process/prefix convention
14574 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
14575 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
14577 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
14578 command to be performed on.
14582 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
14583 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
14584 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
14585 with the current one.
14587 @vindex transient-mark-mode
14588 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
14589 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
14591 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
14592 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
14595 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
14596 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
14598 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
14601 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
14602 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
14603 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
14604 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14606 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
14607 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
14608 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
14609 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
14610 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
14611 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
14612 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
14613 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
14617 @section Interactive
14618 @cindex interaction
14622 @item gnus-novice-user
14623 @vindex gnus-novice-user
14624 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
14625 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
14626 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
14627 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
14630 @item gnus-expert-user
14631 @vindex gnus-expert-user
14632 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
14633 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
14634 matter how strange.
14636 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
14637 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
14638 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
14639 is @code{t} by default.
14641 @item gnus-interactive-exit
14642 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
14643 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
14648 @node Symbolic Prefixes
14649 @section Symbolic Prefixes
14650 @cindex symbolic prefixes
14652 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
14653 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
14654 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
14655 rule of 900 to the current article.
14657 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
14658 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
14659 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
14660 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
14661 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
14662 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
14663 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
14665 @kindex M-i (Summary)
14666 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
14667 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
14668 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
14669 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
14670 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
14671 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
14672 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
14673 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
14675 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
14676 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
14677 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
14679 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
14683 @node Formatting Variables
14684 @section Formatting Variables
14685 @cindex formatting variables
14687 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
14688 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
14689 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
14690 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
14691 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
14694 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
14695 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
14696 lots of percentages everywhere.
14699 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
14700 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
14701 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
14702 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
14703 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
14706 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
14707 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
14708 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
14709 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
14710 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
14711 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
14712 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
14713 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
14715 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
14716 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
14718 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
14719 @findex gnus-update-format
14720 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
14721 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
14722 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
14723 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
14727 @node Formatting Basics
14728 @subsection Formatting Basics
14730 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
14731 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
14732 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
14734 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
14735 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
14736 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
14737 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
14738 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
14741 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
14742 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
14743 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
14744 less than 4 characters wide.
14747 @node Mode Line Formatting
14748 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
14750 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
14751 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
14752 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
14753 with the following two differences:
14758 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
14761 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
14762 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
14763 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
14764 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
14765 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
14766 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
14767 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
14772 @node Advanced Formatting
14773 @subsection Advanced Formatting
14775 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
14776 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
14777 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
14778 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
14780 These are the valid modifiers:
14785 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
14789 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
14794 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
14797 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
14802 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
14805 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
14808 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
14811 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
14815 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
14816 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
14817 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
14818 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
14819 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
14820 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
14821 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
14823 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
14824 last operation, padding.
14826 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
14827 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
14828 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
14829 @xref{Compilation}.
14832 @node User-Defined Specs
14833 @subsection User-Defined Specs
14835 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
14836 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
14837 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
14838 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
14839 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
14840 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
14841 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
14842 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
14843 should protect against that.
14845 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
14846 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
14847 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
14848 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
14852 @node Formatting Fonts
14853 @subsection Formatting Fonts
14855 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
14856 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
14857 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
14858 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
14861 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
14862 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
14863 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
14864 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
14865 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
14866 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
14868 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
14869 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say
14870 @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
14871 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
14872 symbols naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
14873 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
14874 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
14875 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
14877 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
14880 ;; Create three face types.
14881 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
14882 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
14884 ;; We want the article count to be in
14885 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
14886 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
14887 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
14889 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
14890 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
14892 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
14893 (setq gnus-group-line-format
14894 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
14897 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
14898 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
14900 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
14901 mode-line variables.
14904 @node Windows Configuration
14905 @section Windows Configuration
14906 @cindex windows configuration
14908 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
14910 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
14911 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
14912 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
14913 @code{t} by default.
14915 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
14916 glitches. Use at your own peril.
14918 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
14919 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
14920 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
14923 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
14924 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
14925 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
14929 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
14930 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
14931 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
14932 possible names is listed below.
14934 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
14935 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
14938 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
14942 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
14943 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
14944 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
14945 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
14946 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
14947 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
14948 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
14949 size spec per split.
14951 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
14952 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
14953 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
14954 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
14955 present) gets focus.
14957 Here's a more complicated example:
14960 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
14961 (summary 0.25 point)
14962 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
14966 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
14967 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
14968 occupy, not a percentage.
14970 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
14971 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
14972 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
14973 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
14974 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
14977 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
14980 (article (horizontal 1.0
14985 (summary 0.25 point)
14990 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
14991 @code{horizontal} thingie?
14993 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
14994 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
14995 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
14996 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
14997 the screen is to be given to this strip.
14999 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
15000 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
15001 lines from the splits.
15003 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
15007 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
15008 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
15009 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
15010 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
15011 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
15012 size = number | frame-params
15013 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
15016 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
15017 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
15018 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
15019 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
15021 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
15022 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
15023 @cindex window height
15024 @cindex window width
15025 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
15026 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
15027 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
15028 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
15029 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
15030 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
15032 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
15033 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
15034 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
15035 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
15037 @findex gnus-configure-frame
15038 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
15039 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
15040 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
15041 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
15042 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
15043 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
15044 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
15045 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
15046 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
15047 configuration list.
15050 (gnus-configure-frame
15054 (article 0.3 point))
15062 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
15063 @code{frame} split:
15066 (gnus-configure-frame
15069 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
15071 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
15072 (user-position . t)
15073 (left . -1) (top . 1))
15078 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
15079 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
15080 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
15081 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
15082 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
15083 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
15084 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
15085 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
15087 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
15088 be found in its default value.
15090 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
15091 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
15092 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
15096 (message (horizontal 1.0
15097 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
15099 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
15104 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
15105 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
15106 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
15109 (message (frame 1.0
15110 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
15111 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
15112 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
15113 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
15114 (name . "Message"))
15115 (message 1.0 point))))
15118 @findex gnus-add-configuration
15119 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
15120 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
15121 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
15122 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
15125 (gnus-add-configuration
15126 '(article (vertical 1.0
15128 (summary .25 point)
15132 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
15133 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
15134 Gnus has been loaded.
15136 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
15137 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
15138 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
15139 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
15140 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
15142 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
15143 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
15144 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
15148 @node Faces and Fonts
15149 @section Faces and Fonts
15154 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
15155 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
15156 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
15161 @section Compilation
15162 @cindex compilation
15163 @cindex byte-compilation
15165 @findex gnus-compile
15167 Remember all those line format specification variables?
15168 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
15169 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
15170 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
15171 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
15172 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
15175 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
15176 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
15177 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
15178 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
15179 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
15180 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
15181 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
15185 @section Mode Lines
15188 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
15189 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
15190 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
15191 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
15192 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
15193 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
15194 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
15197 @cindex display-time
15199 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
15200 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
15201 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
15202 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
15203 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
15204 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
15205 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
15206 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
15209 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
15211 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
15212 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
15214 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
15215 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
15216 (length display-time-string)))))
15219 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
15220 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
15221 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
15222 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
15223 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
15226 @node Highlighting and Menus
15227 @section Highlighting and Menus
15229 @cindex highlighting
15232 @vindex gnus-visual
15233 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
15234 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
15235 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
15238 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
15239 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
15242 @item group-highlight
15243 Do highlights in the group buffer.
15244 @item summary-highlight
15245 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
15246 @item article-highlight
15247 Do highlights in the article buffer.
15249 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
15251 Create menus in the group buffer.
15253 Create menus in the summary buffers.
15255 Create menus in the article buffer.
15257 Create menus in the browse buffer.
15259 Create menus in the server buffer.
15261 Create menus in the score buffers.
15263 Create menus in all buffers.
15266 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
15267 buffers, you could say something like:
15270 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
15273 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
15276 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
15279 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
15280 in all Gnus buffers.
15282 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
15285 @item gnus-mouse-face
15286 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
15287 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
15288 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
15292 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
15296 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
15297 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
15298 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
15300 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
15301 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
15302 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
15304 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
15305 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
15306 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
15308 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
15309 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
15310 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
15312 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
15313 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
15314 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
15316 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
15317 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
15318 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
15329 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
15330 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
15331 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
15332 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
15333 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
15337 @vindex gnus-carpal
15338 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
15339 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
15340 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
15345 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
15346 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
15347 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
15349 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
15350 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
15351 Face used on buttons.
15353 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
15354 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
15355 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
15357 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
15358 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
15359 Buttons in the group buffer.
15361 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
15362 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
15363 Buttons in the summary buffer.
15365 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
15366 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
15367 Buttons in the server buffer.
15369 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
15370 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
15371 Buttons in the browse buffer.
15374 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
15375 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
15376 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
15384 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
15385 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
15386 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
15387 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
15388 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
15390 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
15391 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
15392 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
15394 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
15395 been idle for thirty minutes:
15398 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
15401 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
15405 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
15408 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
15409 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
15410 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
15412 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
15413 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
15414 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
15415 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
15417 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
15418 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
15419 @var{idle} minutes.
15421 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
15422 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
15425 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
15426 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
15427 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
15429 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
15430 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
15431 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
15432 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
15434 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
15435 your @file{.gnus} file:
15437 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
15439 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
15442 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
15443 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
15444 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
15445 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
15446 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
15447 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
15448 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
15449 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
15450 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
15451 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
15452 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
15454 @findex gnus-demon-init
15455 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
15456 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
15457 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
15458 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
15459 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
15461 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
15462 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
15463 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
15472 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
15473 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
15475 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
15476 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
15477 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
15478 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
15481 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
15482 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
15483 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
15484 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
15486 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
15487 this will make spam disappear.
15489 There are some variables to customize, of course:
15492 @item gnus-use-nocem
15493 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
15494 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
15497 @item gnus-nocem-groups
15498 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
15499 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
15500 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
15501 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
15503 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
15504 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
15505 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
15506 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
15507 "rbraver@@ohww.norman.ok.us" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
15508 "jem@@xpat.com" "snowhare@@xmission.com" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
15509 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
15511 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
15514 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
15515 @cindex Chris Lewis
15516 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
15517 usenet abuse than anybody else.
15520 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
15521 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
15522 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
15524 @item jem@@xpat.com;
15526 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
15529 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
15530 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
15531 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
15534 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
15535 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
15536 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
15537 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
15538 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
15539 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
15540 @var{(issuer conditions ...)} elements in the list. Each condition is
15541 either a string (which is a regexp that matches types you want to use)
15542 or a list on the form @code{(not STRING)}, where @var{string} is a
15543 regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
15545 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
15546 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
15549 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
15552 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
15553 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
15556 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
15559 The specs are applied left-to-right.
15562 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
15563 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
15565 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
15566 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
15567 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
15568 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
15570 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
15571 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
15574 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
15576 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
15584 This might be dangerous, though.
15586 @item gnus-nocem-directory
15587 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
15588 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
15589 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
15591 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
15592 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
15593 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
15594 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
15595 might then see old spam.
15599 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
15600 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
15601 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
15602 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
15609 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
15610 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
15611 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
15613 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
15614 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
15615 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
15616 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
15617 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
15618 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
15619 @code{undo} function.
15621 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
15622 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
15623 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
15624 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
15625 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
15626 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
15627 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
15628 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
15629 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
15630 never be totally undoable.
15632 @findex gnus-undo-mode
15633 @vindex gnus-use-undo
15635 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
15636 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
15637 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
15638 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
15643 @section Moderation
15646 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
15647 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
15648 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
15651 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
15655 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
15658 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
15660 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
15665 You split your incoming mail by matching on
15666 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
15667 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
15670 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
15671 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
15674 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
15675 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
15679 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
15682 (setq gnus-moderated-list
15683 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
15687 @node XEmacs Enhancements
15688 @section XEmacs Enhancements
15691 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
15695 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
15696 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
15697 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
15698 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
15711 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
15712 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
15713 over your shoulder as you read news.
15716 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
15717 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
15718 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
15719 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
15720 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
15725 @subsubsection Picon Basics
15727 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
15736 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
15737 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
15738 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
15739 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
15740 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
15741 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
15742 @code{GIF} formats.
15745 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15746 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
15747 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
15748 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
15749 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
15751 @vindex gnus-picons-database
15752 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
15753 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
15754 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
15755 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
15756 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
15759 @node Picon Requirements
15760 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
15762 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
15763 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
15766 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
15767 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
15768 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
15770 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15771 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
15772 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
15773 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
15774 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
15778 @subsubsection Easy Picons
15780 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
15781 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
15784 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
15785 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
15788 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
15789 containing the Picons databases.
15791 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
15794 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15795 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
15800 @subsubsection Hard Picons
15808 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
15809 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
15810 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
15811 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
15812 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
15817 @item gnus-picons-database
15818 @vindex gnus-picons-database
15819 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
15820 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
15821 subdirectories. This is only useful if
15822 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
15823 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
15825 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15826 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15827 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
15828 engine is @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
15829 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
15830 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
15831 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
15833 @item gnus-picons-display-where
15834 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
15835 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
15836 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
15837 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
15838 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
15839 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
15840 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
15842 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
15843 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
15844 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
15849 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
15850 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
15852 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
15853 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
15856 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
15858 @item gnus-article-display-picons
15859 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
15860 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
15861 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
15863 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
15864 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
15865 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
15871 @node Picon Useless Configuration
15872 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
15880 The following variables offer further control over how things are
15881 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
15882 don't need to worry about.
15886 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
15887 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
15888 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
15889 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
15891 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
15892 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
15893 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
15894 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
15896 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
15897 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
15898 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
15899 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
15900 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
15902 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15903 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15904 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
15905 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
15906 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
15907 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
15908 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
15910 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
15911 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
15912 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
15913 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
15915 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
15916 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
15917 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
15918 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
15919 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
15920 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
15921 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
15923 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
15924 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
15925 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
15926 Defaults to @code{nil}.
15928 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
15929 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
15930 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
15931 Defaults to @code{t}.
15933 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
15934 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
15935 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
15936 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
15938 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
15939 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
15940 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
15942 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
15943 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
15944 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
15945 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
15947 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
15948 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the defailt.
15950 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
15951 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
15952 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
15953 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
15954 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
15955 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
15956 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
15957 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
15968 @subsection Smileys
15973 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
15978 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
15979 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
15981 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
15982 @file{.gnus.el} file:
15985 (setq gnus-treat-display-smiley t)
15988 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
15989 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
15990 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
15991 text and maps that to file names.
15993 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
15994 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
15995 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
15996 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
15997 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
15998 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
16000 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
16001 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
16003 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
16004 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
16005 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
16007 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
16008 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
16012 @item smiley-data-directory
16013 @vindex smiley-data-directory
16014 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
16016 @item smiley-flesh-color
16017 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
16018 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
16020 @item smiley-features-color
16021 @vindex smiley-features-color
16022 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
16024 @item smiley-tongue-color
16025 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
16026 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
16028 @item smiley-circle-color
16029 @vindex smiley-circle-color
16030 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
16032 @item smiley-mouse-face
16033 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
16034 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
16040 @subsection Toolbar
16050 @item gnus-use-toolbar
16051 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
16052 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
16053 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
16054 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
16056 @item gnus-group-toolbar
16057 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
16058 The toolbar in the group buffer.
16060 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
16061 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
16062 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
16064 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
16065 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
16066 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
16072 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
16075 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
16076 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
16077 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
16078 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
16079 unusual directory structure.
16081 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
16082 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
16083 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
16084 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
16086 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
16087 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
16088 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
16089 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
16090 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
16091 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
16093 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
16094 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
16095 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
16109 @node Fuzzy Matching
16110 @section Fuzzy Matching
16111 @cindex fuzzy matching
16113 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
16114 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
16116 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
16117 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
16118 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
16120 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
16121 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
16122 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
16123 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
16124 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
16127 @node Thwarting Email Spam
16128 @section Thwarting Email Spam
16132 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
16134 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
16135 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
16136 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
16137 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
16138 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
16139 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
16140 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
16141 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
16144 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
16145 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
16146 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
16147 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
16148 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
16149 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
16153 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
16154 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
16156 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
16157 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
16158 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
16159 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
16160 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
16161 part of the mail address.)
16164 (setq message-default-news-headers
16165 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
16168 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
16169 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
16174 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
16175 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
16176 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
16182 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
16183 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
16184 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
16185 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
16187 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
16188 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
16189 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
16190 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
16191 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
16192 your fancy split rule in this way:
16197 (to "larsi" "misc")
16201 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
16202 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
16203 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
16204 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
16205 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
16207 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
16208 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
16209 at @* @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
16210 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
16211 cosmic balance somewhat.
16213 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
16214 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
16215 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
16216 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
16219 @node Various Various
16220 @section Various Various
16226 @item gnus-home-directory
16227 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
16228 defaults to @file{~/}.
16230 @item gnus-directory
16231 @vindex gnus-directory
16232 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
16233 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
16234 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
16236 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
16237 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
16238 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
16239 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
16241 @item gnus-default-directory
16242 @vindex gnus-default-directory
16243 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
16244 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
16245 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
16246 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16247 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
16248 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
16251 @vindex gnus-verbose
16252 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
16253 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
16254 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
16255 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
16256 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
16258 @item gnus-verbose-backends
16259 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
16260 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
16261 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
16263 @item nnheader-max-head-length
16264 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
16265 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
16266 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
16267 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
16268 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
16269 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
16270 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
16271 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
16272 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
16274 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
16275 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
16276 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
16277 read when doing the operation described above.
16279 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
16280 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
16282 @cindex invalid characters in file names
16283 @cindex characters in file names
16284 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
16285 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
16286 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
16289 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
16293 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
16294 Windows (phooey) systems.
16296 @item gnus-hidden-properties
16297 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
16298 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
16299 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
16300 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
16302 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
16303 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
16304 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
16305 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
16306 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
16308 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
16309 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
16310 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
16319 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
16320 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
16322 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
16324 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
16330 Not because of victories @*
16333 but for the common sunshine,@*
16335 the largess of the spring.
16339 but for the day's work done@*
16340 as well as I was able;@*
16341 not for a seat upon the dais@*
16342 but at the common table.@*
16347 @chapter Appendices
16350 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
16351 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
16352 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
16353 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
16354 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
16355 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
16356 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
16364 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
16365 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
16367 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
16368 can point your (feh!) web browser to
16369 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
16370 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
16371 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
16373 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
16374 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
16375 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
16376 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
16377 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
16378 appropriate name, don't you think?)
16380 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
16381 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
16382 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
16383 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
16385 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
16386 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
16387 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
16389 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
16390 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
16392 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
16393 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
16395 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37
16396 releases. If was released as ``Gnus 5.6 on March 8th 1998.
16398 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
16399 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
16400 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
16401 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
16402 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
16406 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
16407 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
16408 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
16409 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
16410 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
16411 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
16412 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
16413 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
16420 What's the point of Gnus?
16422 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
16423 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
16424 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
16425 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
16426 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
16427 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
16428 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
16429 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
16430 keep track of millions of people who post?
16432 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
16433 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
16434 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
16435 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
16436 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
16437 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
16438 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
16439 every one of you to explore and invent.
16441 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
16442 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
16445 @node Compatibility
16446 @subsection Compatibility
16448 @cindex compatibility
16449 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
16450 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
16451 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
16456 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
16460 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
16463 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
16466 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
16467 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
16468 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
16469 important variables have their values copied into their global
16470 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
16471 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
16473 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
16474 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
16475 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
16476 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
16477 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
16481 @cindex highlighting
16482 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
16483 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
16484 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
16485 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
16486 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
16487 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
16490 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
16491 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
16492 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
16493 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
16495 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
16496 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
16497 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
16498 to stop doing it the old way.
16500 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
16502 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
16504 @cindex reporting bugs
16506 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
16507 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
16508 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
16510 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
16511 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
16512 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
16513 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
16518 @subsection Conformity
16520 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
16521 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
16528 There are no known breaches of this standard.
16532 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
16534 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
16535 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
16536 We do have some breaches to this one.
16542 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
16543 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
16544 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
16545 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
16546 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
16551 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
16552 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
16553 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
16554 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
16558 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
16559 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
16564 @subsection Emacsen
16570 Gnus should work on :
16578 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
16582 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
16583 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
16586 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
16587 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
16588 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
16592 @node Gnus Development
16593 @subsection Gnus Development
16595 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
16596 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
16597 propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
16598 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
16599 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
16600 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
16601 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
16602 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
16604 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
16605 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
16606 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
16607 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
16608 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
16611 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
16612 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
16613 In particular, @code{nnmail-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
16614 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
16615 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
16617 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
16618 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
16619 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
16620 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
16621 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
16622 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
16623 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
16624 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
16625 usually keep up with these rapid changes, whille people on the newsgroup
16626 can't be assumed to do so.
16631 @subsection Contributors
16632 @cindex contributors
16634 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
16635 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
16636 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
16637 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
16638 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
16639 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
16640 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
16641 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
16642 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
16643 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
16645 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
16651 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
16654 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
16655 well as numerous other things).
16658 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
16661 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
16664 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el and many other things
16665 connected with @sc{mime} and other types of en/decoding.
16668 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
16669 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
16672 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
16675 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
16676 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
16679 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
16682 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
16685 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
16688 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
16691 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
16692 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
16695 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
16698 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
16701 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
16704 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
16708 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
16711 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
16714 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
16717 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
16718 well as autoconf support.
16722 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
16723 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
16725 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
16734 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
16738 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
16761 Massimo Campostrini,
16769 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
16775 Michael Welsh Duggan,
16779 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
16783 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
16790 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
16792 Michelangelo Grigni,
16796 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
16798 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
16800 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
16805 François Felix Ingrand,
16806 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
16808 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
16817 Peter Skov Knudsen,
16818 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
16819 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
16820 Thor Kristoffersen,
16823 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
16841 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
16842 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
16849 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
16853 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
16857 John McClary Prevost,
16863 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
16868 Christian von Roques,
16871 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
16878 Philippe Schnoebelen,
16880 Randal L. Schwartz,
16911 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
16916 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
16917 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
16918 (550kB and counting).
16920 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
16923 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
16924 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
16928 @subsection New Features
16929 @cindex new features
16932 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
16933 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
16934 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
16935 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
16938 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
16939 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
16940 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
16944 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
16946 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
16951 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
16952 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
16955 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
16956 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
16959 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
16962 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
16963 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
16964 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
16967 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
16968 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
16969 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
16970 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
16973 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
16974 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16977 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
16978 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
16979 (@pxref{The Active File}).
16982 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
16983 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
16986 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
16987 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
16988 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
16991 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
16992 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
16993 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
16996 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
16997 the @file{.emacs} file.
17000 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
17001 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17004 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
17005 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
17008 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
17009 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
17012 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
17013 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
17016 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
17017 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
17020 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
17023 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
17024 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
17027 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
17028 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
17031 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
17032 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
17035 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
17038 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
17039 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
17042 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
17046 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
17050 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
17051 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
17054 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
17060 @node September Gnus
17061 @subsubsection September Gnus
17065 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
17069 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
17074 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
17075 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
17079 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
17080 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
17084 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
17088 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
17089 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
17092 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
17096 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
17099 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
17102 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
17105 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
17109 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
17110 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
17113 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
17117 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
17121 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
17125 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
17129 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
17132 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
17133 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
17136 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
17140 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
17141 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
17144 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
17147 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
17148 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
17149 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
17152 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
17156 The Gnus cache is much faster.
17159 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
17163 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
17164 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
17167 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
17168 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
17171 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
17172 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
17175 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
17176 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
17177 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
17180 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
17181 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
17184 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
17187 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
17190 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
17193 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
17196 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
17197 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
17200 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
17204 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
17207 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
17212 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
17215 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
17219 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
17222 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
17226 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
17229 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
17232 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
17233 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
17236 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
17237 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
17241 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
17242 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
17245 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
17249 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
17250 buffer to allow easier treatment.
17253 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
17256 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
17260 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
17264 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
17265 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
17268 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
17272 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
17273 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
17276 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
17277 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
17280 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
17284 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
17287 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
17290 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
17296 @subsubsection Red Gnus
17298 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
17302 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
17309 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
17312 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
17313 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
17316 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
17317 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
17321 Article washing status can be displayed in the
17322 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
17325 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
17328 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
17329 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
17332 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
17336 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
17337 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
17341 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
17342 Server Internals}).
17345 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
17349 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
17352 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
17353 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
17356 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
17357 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
17358 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
17361 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
17362 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
17365 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
17366 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
17369 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
17373 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
17374 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
17377 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
17378 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
17381 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
17385 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
17388 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
17392 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
17393 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
17396 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
17397 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
17400 A new command for reading collections of documents
17401 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
17402 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
17405 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
17409 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
17410 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
17413 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
17414 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
17415 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
17418 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
17419 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
17423 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
17427 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
17431 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
17436 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
17440 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
17444 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
17445 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
17448 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
17454 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
17456 New features in Gnus 5.6:
17461 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
17462 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
17463 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
17466 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
17467 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
17468 group, which is created automatically.
17471 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
17475 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
17478 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
17479 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
17482 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
17486 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
17489 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
17490 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
17493 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
17496 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
17497 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
17500 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
17501 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
17504 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
17505 control over simplification.
17508 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
17511 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
17515 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
17518 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
17521 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
17522 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
17523 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
17526 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
17527 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
17530 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
17534 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
17535 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
17538 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
17539 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
17542 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
17546 A history of where mails have been split is available.
17549 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
17552 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
17553 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
17556 A new function for citing in Message has been
17557 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
17560 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
17563 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
17567 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
17568 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
17571 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
17572 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
17575 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
17578 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
17583 @node Newest Features
17584 @subsection Newest Features
17587 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
17590 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
17592 (That a feature appears in this list doesn't necessarily mean that I've
17593 decided to actually implement it. It just means that I think it sounds
17596 (Yes, this is the actual, up-to-the-second todo list.)
17601 I would like the zombie-page to contain an URL to the source of the
17602 latest version of gnus or some explanation on where to find it.
17605 A way to continue editing the latest Message composition.
17608 http://www.sonicnet.com/feature/ari3/
17611 facep is not declared.
17614 Include a section in the manual on why the number of articles
17615 isn't the same in the group buffer and on the SPC prompt.
17618 Interacting with rmail fcc isn't easy.
17623 <URL:http://www.falch.no/people/pepper/DSSSL-Lite/archives/>
17624 <URL:http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html>
17625 <URL:http://homer.ncm.com/>
17626 <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTML_Converters/>
17627 http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9610/index.html
17628 <URL:http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/converters.html>
17629 http://www.miranova.com/gnus-list/
17634 @samp{^-- } is made into - in LaTeX.
17637 gnus-kill is much slower than it was in GNUS 4.1.3.
17640 when expunging articles on low score, the sparse nodes keep hanging on?
17642 starting the first time seems to hang Gnus on some systems. Does
17643 NEWGROUPS answer too fast?
17645 nndir doesn't read gzipped files.
17647 FAQ doesn't have an up node?
17649 when moving mail from a procmail spool to the crash-box,
17650 the crash-box is only appropriate to one specific group.
17652 `t' `t' makes X-Faces disappear.
17654 nnmh-be-safe means that crossposted articles will
17655 be marked as unread.
17657 Orphan score entries don't show on "V t" score trace
17659 when clearing out data, the cache data should also be reset.
17661 rewrite gnus-summary-limit-children to be non-recursive
17662 to avoid exceeding lisp nesting on huge groups.
17664 expunged articles are counted when computing scores.
17666 implement gnus-batch-brew-soup
17668 ticked articles aren't easy to read in pick mode -- `n' and
17669 stuff just skips past them. Read articles are the same.
17671 topics that contain just groups with ticked
17672 articles aren't displayed.
17674 nndoc should always allocate unique Message-IDs.
17676 If there are mail groups the first time you use Gnus, Gnus'll
17677 make the mail groups killed.
17679 no "no news is good news" when using topics.
17681 when doing crosspost marking, the cache has to be consulted
17682 and articles have to be removed.
17684 nnweb should fetch complete articles when they are split into several
17687 scoring on head immediate doesn't work.
17689 finding short score file names takes forever.
17691 canceling articles in foreign groups.
17693 nntp-open-rlogin no longer works.
17695 C-u C-x C-s (Summary) switches to the group buffer.
17697 move nnmail-split-history out to the backends.
17699 nnweb doesn't work properly.
17701 using a virtual server name as `gnus-select-method' doesn't work?
17703 when killing/yanking a group from one topic to another in a slave, the
17704 master will yank it first to one topic and then add it to another.
17708 warn user about `=' redirection of a group in the active file?
17710 take over the XEmacs menubar and offer a toggle between the XEmacs
17711 bar and the Gnus bar.
17714 push active file and NOV file parsing down into C code.
17715 `(canonize-message-id id)'
17716 `(mail-parent-message-id references n)'
17717 `(parse-news-nov-line &optional dependency-hashtb)'
17718 `(parse-news-nov-region beg end &optional dependency-hashtb fullp)'
17719 `(parse-news-active-region beg end hashtb)'
17724 nnml .overview directory with splits.
17728 postponed commands.
17730 the selected article show have its Subject displayed in its summary line.
17732 when entering groups, get the real number of unread articles from
17735 sort after gathering threads -- make false roots have the
17736 headers of the oldest orphan with a 0 article number?
17738 nndoc groups should inherit the score files of their parents? Also
17739 inherit copy prompts and save files.
17741 command to start up Gnus (if not running) and enter a mail mode buffer.
17743 allow editing the group description from the group buffer
17744 for backends that support that.
17746 gnus-hide,show-all-topics
17748 groups and sub-topics should be allowed to mingle inside each topic,
17749 and not just list all subtopics at the end.
17751 a command to remove all read articles that are not needed to connect
17752 threads -- `gnus-summary-limit-to-sparse-unread'?
17754 a variable to turn off limiting/cutting of threads in the tree buffer.
17756 a variable to limit how many files are uudecoded.
17758 add zombie groups to a special "New Groups" topic.
17760 server mode command: close/open all connections
17762 put a file date in gnus-score-alist and check whether the file
17763 has been changed before using it.
17765 on exit from a digest group, go to the next article in the parent group.
17767 hide (sub)threads with low score.
17769 when expiring, remove all marks from expired articles.
17771 gnus-summary-limit-to-body
17773 a regexp alist that says what level groups are to be subscribed
17774 on. Eg. -- `(("nnml:" . 1))'.
17776 easier interface to nnkiboze to create ephemeral groups that
17777 contain groups that match a regexp.
17779 allow newlines in <URL:> urls, but remove them before using
17782 If there is no From line, the mail backends should fudge one from the
17785 fuzzy simplifying should strip all non-alpha-numerical info
17786 from subject lines.
17788 gnus-soup-brew-soup-with-high-scores.
17790 nntp-ping-before-connect
17792 command to check whether NOV is evil. "list overview.fmt".
17794 when entering a group, Gnus should look through the score
17795 files very early for `local' atoms and set those local variables.
17797 message annotations.
17799 topics are always yanked before groups, and that's not good.
17801 (set-extent-property extent 'help-echo "String to display in minibuf")
17802 to display help in the minibuffer on buttons under XEmacs.
17804 allow group line format spec to say how many articles there
17809 support qmail maildir spools
17811 `run-with-idle-timer' in gnus-demon.
17813 stop using invisible text properties and start using overlays instead
17815 C-c C-f C-e to add an Expires header.
17817 go from one group to the next; everything is expunged; go to the
17818 next group instead of going to the group buffer.
17820 gnus-renumber-cache -- to renumber the cache using "low" numbers.
17822 record topic changes in the dribble buffer.
17824 `nnfolder-generate-active-file' should look at the folders it
17825 finds and generate proper active ranges.
17827 nneething-look-in-files-for-article-heads variable to control
17828 whether nneething should sniff all files in the directories.
17830 gnus-fetch-article -- start Gnus, enter group, display article
17832 gnus-dont-move-articles-to-same-group variable when respooling.
17834 when messages are crossposted between several auto-expirable groups,
17835 articles aren't properly marked as expirable.
17837 nneething should allow deletion/moving.
17839 TAB on the last button should go to the first button.
17841 if the car of an element in `mail-split-methods' is a function,
17842 and the function returns non-nil, use that as the name of the group(s) to
17845 command for listing all score files that have been applied.
17847 a command in the article buffer to return to `summary' config.
17849 `gnus-always-post-using-current-server' -- variable to override
17850 `C-c C-c' when posting.
17852 nnmail-group-spool-alist -- says where each group should use
17855 when an article is crossposted to an auto-expirable group, the article
17856 should be marker as expirable.
17858 article mode command/menu for "send region as URL to browser".
17860 on errors, jump to info nodes that explain the error. For instance,
17861 on invalid From headers, or on error messages from the nntp server.
17863 when gathering threads, make the article that has no "Re: " the parent.
17864 Also consult Date headers.
17866 a token in splits to call shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer
17868 `1 0 A M' to do matches on the active hashtb.
17870 duplicates -- command to remove Gnus-Warning header, use the read
17871 Message-ID, delete the "original".
17873 when replying to several messages at once, put the "other" message-ids
17874 into a See-Also header.
17876 support setext: URL:http://www.bsdi.com/setext/
17878 support ProleText: <URL:http://proletext.clari.net/prole/proletext.html>
17880 when browsing a foreign server, the groups that are already subscribed
17881 should be listed as such and not as "K".
17883 generate font names dynamically.
17885 score file mode auto-alist.
17887 allow nndoc to change/add/delete things from documents. Implement
17888 methods for each format for adding an article to the document.
17890 `gnus-fetch-old-headers' `all' value to incorporate
17891 absolutely all headers there is.
17893 function like `|', but concatenate all marked articles
17894 and pipe them to the process.
17896 cache the list of killed (or active) groups in a separate file. Update
17897 the file whenever we read the active file or the list
17898 of killed groups in the .eld file reaches a certain length.
17900 function for starting to edit a file to put into
17901 the current mail group.
17903 score-find-trace should display the total score of the article.
17905 "ghettozie" -- score on Xref header and nix it out after using it
17906 to avoid marking as read in other groups it has been crossposted to.
17908 look at procmail splitting. The backends should create
17909 the groups automatically if a spool file exists for that group.
17911 function for backends to register themselves with Gnus.
17913 when replying to several process-marked articles,
17914 have all the From end up in Cc headers? Variable to toggle.
17916 command to delete a crossposted mail article from all
17917 groups it has been mailed to.
17919 `B c' and `B m' should be crosspost aware.
17921 hide-pgp should also hide PGP public key blocks.
17923 Command in the group buffer to respool process-marked groups.
17925 `gnus-summary-find-matching' should accept
17926 pseudo-"headers" like "body", "head" and "all"
17928 When buttifying <URL: > things, all white space (including
17929 newlines) should be ignored.
17931 Process-marking all groups in a topic should process-mark
17932 groups in subtopics as well.
17934 Add non-native groups to the list of killed groups when killing them.
17936 nntp-suggest-kewl-config to probe the nntp server and suggest
17939 add edit and forward secondary marks.
17941 nnml shouldn't visit its .overview files.
17943 allow customizing sorting within gathered threads.
17945 `B q' shouldn't select the current article.
17947 nnmbox should support a newsgroups file for descriptions.
17949 allow fetching mail from several pop servers.
17951 Be able to specify whether the saving commands save the original
17952 or the formatted article.
17954 a command to reparent with the child process-marked (cf. `T ^'.).
17956 I think the possibility to send a password with nntp-open-rlogin
17957 should be a feature in Red Gnus.
17959 The `Z n' command should be possible to execute from a mouse click.
17961 more limiting functions -- date, etc.
17963 be able to limit on a random header; on body; using reverse matches.
17965 a group parameter (`absofucking-total-expiry') that will make Gnus expire
17966 even unread articles.
17968 a command to print the article buffer as postscript.
17970 variable to disable password fetching when opening by nntp-open-telnet.
17972 manual: more example servers -- nntp with rlogin, telnet
17974 checking for bogus groups should clean topic alists as well.
17976 canceling articles in foreign groups.
17978 article number in folded topics isn't properly updated by
17981 Movement in the group buffer to the next unread group should go to the
17982 next closed topic with unread messages if no group can be found.
17984 Extensive info pages generated on the fly with help everywhere --
17985 in the "*Gnus edit*" buffers, for instance.
17987 Topic movement commands -- like thread movement. Up, down, forward, next.
17989 a way to tick/mark as read Gcc'd articles.
17991 a way to say that all groups within a specific topic comes
17992 from a particular server? Hm.
17994 `gnus-article-fill-if-long-lines' -- a function to fill
17995 the article buffer if there are any looong lines there.
17997 `T h' should jump to the parent topic and fold it.
17999 a command to create an ephemeral nndoc group out of a file,
18000 and then splitting it/moving it to some other group/backend.
18002 a group parameter for nnkiboze groups that says that
18003 all kibozed articles should be entered into the cache.
18005 It should also probably be possible to delimit what
18006 `gnus-jog-cache' does -- for instance, work on just some groups, or on
18007 some levels, and entering just articles that have a score higher than
18010 nnfolder should append to the folder instead of re-writing
18011 the entire folder to disk when accepting new messages.
18013 allow all backends to do the proper thing with .gz files.
18015 a backend for reading collections of babyl files nnbabylfolder?
18017 a command for making the native groups into foreign groups.
18019 server mode command for clearing read marks from all groups
18022 when following up multiple articles, include all To, Cc, etc headers
18025 a command for deciding what the total score of the current
18026 thread is. Also a way to highlight based on this.
18028 command to show and edit group scores
18030 a gnus-tree-minimize-horizontal to minimize tree buffers
18033 command to generate nnml overview file for one group.
18035 `C-u C-u a' -- prompt for many crossposted groups.
18037 keep track of which mail groups have received new articles (in this session).
18038 Be able to generate a report and perhaps do some marking in the group
18041 gnus-build-sparse-threads to a number -- build only sparse threads
18042 that are of that length.
18044 have nnmh respect mh's unseen sequence in .mh_profile.
18046 cache the newsgroups descriptions locally.
18048 asynchronous posting under nntp.
18050 be able to control word adaptive scoring from the score files.
18052 a variable to make `C-c C-c' post using the "current" select method.
18054 `limit-exclude-low-scored-articles'.
18056 if `gnus-summary-show-thread' is a number, hide threads that have
18057 a score lower than this number.
18059 split newsgroup subscription variable up into "order" and "method".
18061 buttonize ange-ftp file names.
18063 a command to make a duplicate copy of the current article
18064 so that each copy can be edited separately.
18066 nnweb should allow fetching from the local nntp server.
18068 record the sorting done in the summary buffer so that
18069 it can be repeated when limiting/regenerating the buffer.
18071 nnml-generate-nov-databses should generate for
18074 when the user does commands in the group buffer, check
18075 the modification time of the .newsrc.eld file and use
18076 ask-user-about-supersession-threat. Also warn when trying
18077 to save .newsrc.eld and it has changed.
18079 M-g on a topic will display all groups with 0 articles in
18082 command to remove all topic stuff.
18084 allow exploding incoming digests when reading incoming mail
18085 and splitting the resulting digests.
18087 nnsoup shouldn't set the `message-' variables.
18089 command to nix out all nnoo state information.
18091 nnmail-process-alist that calls functions if group names
18092 matches an alist -- before saving.
18094 use buffer-invisibility-spec everywhere for hiding text.
18096 variable to activate each group before entering them
18097 to get the (new) number of articles. `gnus-activate-before-entering'.
18099 command to fetch a Message-ID from any buffer, even
18100 starting Gnus first if necessary.
18102 when posting and checking whether a group exists or not, just
18103 ask the nntp server instead of relying on the active hashtb.
18105 buttonize the output of `C-c C-a' in an apropos-like way.
18107 `G p' should understand process/prefix, and allow editing
18108 of several groups at once.
18110 command to create an ephemeral nnvirtual group that
18111 matches some regexp(s).
18113 nndoc should understand "Content-Type: message/rfc822" forwarded messages.
18115 it should be possible to score "thread" on the From header.
18117 hitting RET on a "gnus-uu-archive" pseudo article should unpack it.
18119 `B i' should display the article at once in the summary buffer.
18121 remove the "*" mark at once when unticking an article.
18123 `M-s' should highlight the matching text.
18125 when checking for duplicated mails, use Resent-Message-ID if present.
18127 killing and yanking groups in topics should be better. If killing one copy
18128 of a group that exists in multiple topics, only that copy should
18129 be removed. Yanking should insert the copy, and yanking topics
18130 should be possible to be interspersed with the other yankings.
18132 command for enter a group just to read the cached articles. A way to say
18133 "ignore the nntp connection; just read from the cache."
18135 `X u' should decode base64 articles.
18137 a way to hide all "inner" cited text, leaving just the most
18138 recently cited text.
18140 nnvirtual should be asynchronous.
18142 after editing an article, gnus-original-article-buffer should
18145 there should probably be a way to make Gnus not connect to the
18146 server and just read the articles in the server
18148 allow a `set-default' (or something) to change the default
18149 value of nnoo variables.
18151 a command to import group infos from a .newsrc.eld file.
18153 groups from secondary servers have the entire select method
18154 listed in each group info.
18156 a command for just switching from the summary buffer to the group
18159 a way to specify that some incoming mail washing functions
18160 should only be applied to some groups.
18162 Message `C-f C-t' should ask the user whether to heed
18163 mail-copies-to: never.
18165 new group parameter -- `post-to-server' that says to post
18166 using the current server. Also a variable to do the same.
18168 the slave dribble files should auto-save to the slave file names.
18170 a group parameter that says what articles to display on group entry, based
18173 a way to visually distinguish slave Gnusae from masters. (Whip instead
18176 Use DJ Bernstein "From " quoting/dequoting, where applicable.
18178 Why is hide-citation-maybe and hide-citation different? Also
18181 group user-defined meta-parameters.
18185 From: John Griffith <griffith@@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de>
18187 I like the option for trying to retrieve the FAQ for a group and I was
18188 thinking it would be great if for those newsgroups that had archives
18189 you could also try to read the archive for that group. Part of the
18190 problem is that archives are spread all over the net, unlike FAQs.
18191 What would be best I suppose is to find the one closest to your site.
18193 In any case, there is a list of general news group archives at @*
18194 ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/users/claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html
18201 From: Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@@hpc.uh.edu>
18202 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
18204 (gnus-group-add-parameter group
18205 (cons 'gnus-group-date-last-entered (list (current-time-string))))))
18207 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
18208 "Return the date the group was last read."
18209 (cond ((car (gnus-group-get-parameter gnus-tmp-group 'gnus-group-date-last-entered)))
18214 tanken var at når du bruker `gnus-startup-file' som prefix (FOO) til å lete
18215 opp en fil FOO-SERVER, FOO-SERVER.el, FOO-SERVER.eld, kan du la den være en
18216 liste hvor du bruker hvert element i listen som FOO, istedet. da kunne man
18217 hatt forskjellige serveres startup-filer forskjellige steder.
18221 LMI> Well, nnbabyl could alter the group info to heed labels like
18222 LMI> answered and read, I guess.
18224 It could also keep them updated (the same for the Status: header of
18227 They could be used like this:
18231 `M l <name> RET' add label <name> to current message.
18232 `M u <name> RET' remove label <name> from current message.
18233 `/ l <expr> RET' limit summary buffer according to <expr>.
18235 <expr> would be a boolean expression on the labels, e.g.
18237 `/ l bug & !fixed RET'
18240 would show all the messages which are labeled `bug' but not labeled
18243 One could also imagine the labels being used for highlighting, or
18244 affect the summary line format.
18248 Sender: abraham@@dina.kvl.dk
18250 I'd like a gnus-find-file which work like find file, except that it
18251 would recognize things that looks like messages or folders:
18253 - If it is a directory containing numbered files, create an nndir
18256 - For other directories, create a nneething summary buffer.
18258 - For files matching "\\`From ", create a nndoc/mbox summary.
18260 - For files matching "\\`BABYL OPTIONS:", create a nndoc/baby summary.
18262 - For files matching "\\`[^ \t\n]+:", create an *Article* buffer.
18264 - For other files, just find them normally.
18266 I'd like `nneething' to use this function, so it would work on a
18267 directory potentially containing mboxes or babyl files.
18270 Please send a mail to bwarsaw@@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw) and
18271 tell him what you are doing.
18274 Currently, I get prompted:
18278 decend into sci.something ?
18282 The problem above is that since there is really only one subsection of
18283 science, shouldn't it prompt you for only descending sci.something? If
18284 there was a sci.somethingelse group or section, then it should prompt
18285 for sci? first the sci.something? then sci.somethingelse?...
18288 Ja, det burde være en måte å si slikt. Kanskje en ny variabel?
18289 `gnus-use-few-score-files'? SÃ¥ kunne score-regler legges til den
18290 "mest" lokale score-fila. F. eks. ville no-gruppene betjenes av
18291 "no.all.SCORE", osv.
18294 What i want is for Gnus to treat any sequence or combination of the following
18295 as a single spoiler warning and hide it all, replacing it with a "Next Page"
18301 more than n blank lines
18303 more than m identical lines
18304 (which should be replaced with button to show them)
18306 any whitespace surrounding any of the above
18310 Well, we could allow a new value to `gnus-thread-ignore-subject' --
18311 `spaces', or something. (We could even default to that.) And then
18312 subjects that differ in white space only could be considered the
18313 "same" subject for threading purposes.
18316 Modes to preprocess the contents (e.g. jka-compr) use the second form
18317 "(REGEXP FUNCTION NON-NIL)" while ordinary modes (e.g. tex) use the first
18318 form "(REGEXP . FUNCTION)", so you could use it to distinguish between
18319 those two types of modes. (auto-modes-alist, insert-file-contents-literally.)
18322 Under XEmacs -- do funny article marks:
18325 soup - bowl of soup
18326 score below - dim light bulb
18327 score over - bright light bulb
18330 Yes. I think the algorithm is as follows:
18335 show-list-of-articles-in-group
18336 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
18337 if (no-more-articles-in-group-to-select)
18338 if (articles-selected)
18339 start-reading-selected-articles;
18340 junk-unread-articles;
18345 else if (key-pressed = '.')
18346 if (consolidated-menus) # same as hide-thread in Gnus
18347 select-thread-under-cursor;
18349 select-article-under-cursor;
18353 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
18354 if (more-pages-in-article)
18356 else if (more-selected-articles-to-read)
18363 My precise need here would have been to limit files to Incoming*.
18364 One could think of some `nneething-only-files' variable, but I guess
18365 it would have been unacceptable if one was using many unrelated such
18368 A more useful approach would be to, in response to the `G D' prompt, be
18369 allowed to say something like: `~/.mail/Incoming*', somewhat limiting
18370 the top-level directory only (in case directories would be matched by
18371 the wildcard expression).
18374 It would be nice if it also handled
18376 <URL:news://sunsite.auc.dk/>
18378 which should correspond to `B nntp RET sunsite.auc.dk' in *Group*.
18383 Take a look at w3-menu.el in the Emacs-W3 distribution - this works out
18384 really well. Each menu is 'named' by a symbol that would be on a
18385 gnus-*-menus (where * would be whatever, but at least group, summary, and
18386 article versions) variable.
18388 So for gnus-summary-menus, I would set to '(sort mark dispose ...)
18390 A value of '1' would just put _all_ the menus in a single 'GNUS' menu in
18391 the main menubar. This approach works really well for Emacs-W3 and VM.
18395 nndoc should take care to create unique Message-IDs for all its
18398 gnus-score-followup-article only works when you have a summary buffer
18399 active. Make it work when posting from the group buffer as well.
18400 (message-sent-hook).
18402 rewrite gnus-demon to use run-with-idle-timers.
18405 * Enhancements to Gnus:
18409 * gnus-servers (gnus-start-server-buffer?)--enters Gnus and goes
18410 straight to the server buffer, without opening any connections to
18413 * gnus-server-read-server-newsrc--produces a buffer very similar to
18414 the group buffer, but with only groups from that server listed;
18415 quitting this buffer returns to the server buffer.
18418 add a command to check the integrity of an nnfolder folder --
18419 go through the article numbers and see that there are no duplicates,
18423 `unsmileyfy-buffer' to undo smileification.
18426 a command to give all relevant info on an article, including all
18430 when doing `-request-accept-article', the backends should do
18431 the nnmail duplicate checking.
18434 allow `message-signature-file' to be a function to return the
18435 value of the signature file.
18438 In addition, I would love it if I could configure message-tab so that it
18439 could call `bbdb-complete-name' in other headers. So, some sort of
18442 (setq message-tab-alist
18443 '((message-header-regexp message-expand-group)
18444 ("^\\(To\\|[cC]c\\|[bB]cc\\)" bbdb-complete-name)))
18446 then you could run the relevant function to complete the information in
18450 cache the newsgroups file locally to avoid reloading it all the time.
18453 a command to import a buffer into a group.
18456 nnweb should allow fetching by Message-ID from servers.
18459 point in the article buffer doesn't always go to the
18460 beginning of the buffer when selecting new articles.
18463 a command to process mark all unread articles.
18466 `gnus-gather-threads-by-references-and-subject' -- first
18467 do gathering by references, and then go through the dummy roots and
18468 do more gathering by subject.
18471 gnus-uu-mark-in-numerical-order -- process mark articles in
18472 article numerical order.
18475 (gnus-thread-total-score
18476 (gnus-id-to-thread (mail-header-id (gnus-summary-article-header))))
18480 sorting by score is wrong when using sparse threads.
18483 a command to fetch an arbitrary article -- without having to be
18484 in the summary buffer.
18487 a new nncvs backend. Each group would show an article, using
18488 version branches as threading, checkin date as the date, etc.
18491 http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnsetfilter_exp.html ?
18492 This filter allows one to construct advance queries on the Dejanews
18493 database such as specifying start and end dates, subject, author,
18494 and/or newsgroup name.
18497 new Date header scoring type -- older, newer
18500 use the summary toolbar in the article buffer.
18503 a command to fetch all articles that are less than X days old.
18506 in pick mode, `q' should save the list of selected articles in the
18507 group info. The next time the group is selected, these articles
18508 will automatically get the process mark.
18511 Isn't it possible to (also?) allow M-^ to automatically try the
18512 default server if it fails on the current server? (controlled by a
18513 user variable, (nil, t, 'ask)).
18516 make it possible to cancel articles using the select method for the
18520 `gnus-summary-select-article-on-entry' or something. It'll default
18521 to t and will select whatever article decided by `gnus-auto-select-first'.
18524 a new variable to control which selection commands should be unselecting.
18525 `first', `best', `next', `prev', `next-unread', `prev-unread' are
18529 be able to select groups that have no articles in them
18530 to be able to post in them (using the current select method).
18533 be able to post via DejaNews.
18536 `x' should retain any sortings that have been performed.
18539 allow the user to specify the precedence of the secondary marks. Also
18540 allow them to be displayed separately.
18543 gnus-summary-save-in-pipe should concatenate the results from
18544 the processes when doing a process marked pipe.
18547 a new match type, like Followup, but which adds Thread matches on all
18548 articles that match a certain From header.
18551 a function that can be read from kill-emacs-query-functions to offer
18552 saving living summary buffers.
18555 a function for selecting a particular group which will contain
18556 the articles listed in a list of article numbers/id's.
18559 a battery of character translation functions to translate common
18560 Mac, MS (etc) characters into ISO 8859-1.
18563 (defun article-fix-m$word ()
18564 "Fix M$Word smartquotes in an article."
18567 (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
18568 (goto-char (point-min))
18569 (while (search-forward "\221" nil t)
18570 (replace-match "`" t t))
18571 (goto-char (point-min))
18572 (while (search-forward "\222" nil t)
18573 (replace-match "'" t t))
18574 (goto-char (point-min))
18575 (while (search-forward "\223" nil t)
18576 (replace-match "\"" t t))
18577 (goto-char (point-min))
18578 (while (search-forward "\224" nil t)
18579 (replace-match "\"" t t)))))
18584 (add-hook 'gnus-exit-query-functions
18586 (if (and (file-exists-p nnmail-spool-file)
18587 (> (nnheader-file-size nnmail-spool-file) 0))
18588 (yes-or-no-p "New mail has arrived. Quit Gnus anyways? ")
18589 (y-or-n-p "Are you sure you want to quit Gnus? "))))
18593 allow message-default-headers to be a function.
18596 new Date score match types -- < > = (etc) that take floating point
18597 numbers and match on the age of the article.
18601 > > > If so, I've got one gripe: It seems that when I fire up gnus 5.2.25
18602 > > > under xemacs-19.14, it's creating a new frame, but is erasing the
18603 > > > buffer in the frame that it was called from =:-O
18605 > > Hm. How do you start up Gnus? From the toolbar or with
18606 > > `M-x gnus-other-frame'?
18608 > I normally start it up from the toolbar; at
18609 > least that's the way I've caught it doing the
18614 all commands that react to the process mark should push
18615 the current process mark set onto the stack.
18618 gnus-article-hide-pgp
18619 Selv ville jeg nok ha valgt å slette den dersom teksten matcher
18621 "\\(This\s+\\)?[^ ]+ has been automatically signed by"
18623 og det er maks hundre tegn mellom match-end og ----linja. Men -det-
18624 er min type heuristikk og langt fra alles.
18627 `gnus-subscribe-sorted' -- insert new groups where they would have been
18628 sorted to if `gnus-group-sort-function' were run.
18631 gnus-(group,summary)-highlight should respect any `face' text props set
18635 use run-with-idle-timer for gnus-demon instead of the
18636 home-brewed stuff for better reliability.
18639 add a way to select which NoCeM type to apply -- spam, troll, etc.
18642 nndraft-request-group should tally auto-save files.
18645 implement nntp-retry-on-break and nntp-command-timeout.
18648 gnus-article-highlight-limit that says when not to highlight (long)
18652 (nnoo-set SERVER VARIABLE VALUE)
18658 interrupitng agent fetching of articles should save articles.
18661 command to open a digest group, and copy all the articles there to the
18665 a variable to disable article body highlights if there's more than
18666 X characters in the body.
18669 handle 480/381 authinfo requests separately.
18672 include the texi/dir file in the distribution.
18675 format spec to "tab" to a position.
18678 Move all prompting to the new `M-n' default style.
18681 command to display all dormant articles.
18684 gnus-auto-select-next makeover -- list of things it should do.
18687 a score match type that adds scores matching on From if From has replied
18688 to something someone else has said.
18691 Read Netscape discussion groups:
18692 snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.communicator.unix
18695 One command to edit the original version if an article, and one to edit
18696 the displayed version.
18699 @kbd{T v} -- make all process-marked articles the children of the
18703 Switch from initial text to the new default text mechanism.
18706 How about making it possible to expire local articles? Will it be
18707 possible to make various constraints on when an article can be
18708 expired, e.g. (read), (age > 14 days), or the more interesting (read
18712 New limit command---limit to articles that have a certain string
18713 in the head or body.
18716 Allow breaking lengthy NNTP commands.
18719 gnus-article-highlight-limit, to disable highlighting in big articles.
18722 Editing an article should put the article to be edited
18723 in a special, unique buffer.
18726 A command to send a mail to the admin-address group param.
18729 A Date scoring type that will match if the article
18730 is less than a certain number of days old.
18733 New spec: %~(tab 56) to put point on column 56
18736 Allow Gnus Agent scoring to use normal score files.
18739 Rething the Agent active file thing. `M-g' doesn't update the active
18740 file, for instance.
18743 With dummy roots, `^' and then selecing the first article
18744 in any other dummy thread will make Gnus highlight the
18745 dummy root instead of the first article.
18748 Propagate all group properties (marks, article numbers, etc) up to the
18749 topics for displaying.
18752 `n' in the group buffer with topics should go to the next group
18753 with unread articles, even if that group is hidden in a topic.
18756 gnus-posting-styles doesn't work in drafts.
18759 gnus-summary-limit-include-cached is slow when there are
18760 many articles in the cache, since it regenerates big parts of the
18761 summary buffer for each article.
18764 Implement gnus-batch-brew-soup.
18767 Group parameters and summary commands for un/subscribing to mailing
18771 Introduce nnmail-home-directory.
18774 gnus-fetch-group and friends should exit Gnus when the user
18778 The jingle is only played on the second invocation of Gnus.
18781 Bouncing articles should do MIME.
18784 Crossposted articles should "inherit" the % or @ mark from the other
18785 groups it has been crossposted to, or something. (Agent.)
18788 `S D r' should allow expansion of aliases.
18791 If point is on a group that appears multiple times in topics, and
18792 you press `l', point will move to the first instance of the group.
18795 Fetch by Message-ID from dejanews.
18797 <URL:http://search.dejanews.com/msgid.xp?MID=%3C62h9l9$hm4@@basement.replay.com%3E&fmt=raw>
18800 A spec for the group line format to display the number of
18801 agent-downloaded articles in the group.
18804 Some nntp servers never respond when posting, so there should be a
18805 timeout for all commands.
18808 When stading on a topic line and `t'-ing, point goes to the last line.
18809 It should go somewhere else.
18812 I'm having trouble accessing a newsgroup with a "+" in its name with
18813 Gnus. There is a new newsgroup on msnews.microsoft.com named
18814 "microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time" that I'm trying to
18816 "nntp+msnews.microsoft.com:microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time"
18817 but it gives an error that it cant access the group.
18819 Is the "+" character illegal in newsgroup names? Is there any way in
18820 Gnus to work around this? (gnus 5.6.45 - XEmacs 20.4)
18824 Solve the halting problem.
18833 @section The Manual
18837 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
18838 either @code{texi2dvi}
18840 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
18841 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
18843 to get what you hold in your hands now.
18845 The following conventions have been used:
18850 This is a @samp{string}
18853 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
18856 This is a @file{file}
18859 This is a @code{symbol}
18863 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
18867 (setq flargnoze "yes")
18870 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
18873 (setq flumphel 'yes)
18876 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
18877 ever get them confused.
18881 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
18882 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
18883 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
18884 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
18885 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
18886 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
18887 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
18895 @section Terminology
18897 @cindex terminology
18902 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
18903 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
18904 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
18905 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
18906 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
18910 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
18911 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
18912 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
18913 not posting, and replying is not following up.
18917 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
18921 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
18926 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
18927 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
18928 is all done by the backends.
18932 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
18933 default, way of getting news.
18937 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
18938 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
18943 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
18944 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
18948 A message that has been posted as news.
18951 @cindex mail message
18952 A message that has been mailed.
18956 A mail message or news article
18960 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
18965 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
18970 A line from the head of an article.
18974 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
18975 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
18979 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
18980 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
18981 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
18982 normal @sc{head} format.
18986 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
18987 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
18988 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
18989 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
18990 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
18991 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
18993 @item killed groups
18994 @cindex killed groups
18995 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
18996 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
18998 @item zombie groups
18999 @cindex zombie groups
19000 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
19003 @cindex active file
19004 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
19005 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
19006 is rather large, as you might surmise.
19009 @cindex bogus groups
19010 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
19011 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
19012 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
19015 @cindex activating groups
19016 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
19017 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
19018 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
19022 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
19024 @item select method
19025 @cindex select method
19026 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
19029 @item virtual server
19030 @cindex virtual server
19031 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
19032 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
19033 whole is a virtual server.
19037 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
19038 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
19041 @item ephemeral groups
19042 @cindex ephemeral groups
19043 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
19044 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
19045 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
19048 @cindex solid groups
19049 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
19050 group buffer are solid groups.
19052 @item sparse articles
19053 @cindex sparse articles
19054 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
19055 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
19059 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
19060 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
19064 @cindex thread root
19065 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
19066 articles in the thread.
19070 An article that has responses.
19074 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
19078 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
19079 specified by RFC1153.
19085 @node Customization
19086 @section Customization
19087 @cindex general customization
19089 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
19090 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
19091 for some quite common situations.
19094 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
19095 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
19096 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
19097 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
19101 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
19102 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
19104 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
19105 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
19106 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
19110 @item gnus-read-active-file
19111 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
19112 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
19113 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
19114 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
19115 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
19117 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
19118 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
19119 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
19120 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
19124 @node Slow Terminal Connection
19125 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
19127 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
19128 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
19129 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
19133 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
19134 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
19135 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
19136 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
19137 horizontal and vertical recentering.
19139 @item gnus-visible-headers
19140 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
19141 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
19142 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
19143 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
19145 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
19147 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
19148 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
19149 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
19152 @item gnus-use-full-window
19153 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
19154 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
19155 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
19156 want to read them anyway.
19158 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
19159 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
19162 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
19163 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
19164 lines, which might save some time.
19168 @node Little Disk Space
19169 @subsection Little Disk Space
19172 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
19173 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
19177 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
19178 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
19179 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
19180 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19183 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
19184 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
19185 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
19186 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19189 @item gnus-save-killed-list
19190 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
19191 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
19192 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
19193 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
19199 @subsection Slow Machine
19200 @cindex slow machine
19202 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
19203 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
19205 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
19206 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
19208 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
19209 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
19210 summary buffer faster.
19214 @node Troubleshooting
19215 @section Troubleshooting
19216 @cindex troubleshooting
19218 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
19226 Make sure your computer is switched on.
19229 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
19230 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
19234 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
19235 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
19236 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
19237 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
19240 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
19244 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
19245 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
19246 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
19247 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
19248 something like that.
19251 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
19254 @cindex reporting bugs
19256 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
19258 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
19259 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
19260 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
19261 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
19263 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
19264 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
19265 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
19266 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
19269 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
19270 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
19271 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
19272 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
19273 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
19274 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
19276 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
19277 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
19278 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
19281 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
19282 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
19284 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
19285 @cindex ding mailing list
19286 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
19287 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
19291 @node Gnus Reference Guide
19292 @section Gnus Reference Guide
19294 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
19295 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
19296 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
19297 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
19300 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
19301 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
19302 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
19303 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
19304 and general methods of operation.
19307 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
19308 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
19309 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
19310 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
19311 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
19312 * Group Info:: The group info format.
19313 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
19314 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
19315 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
19319 @node Gnus Utility Functions
19320 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
19321 @cindex Gnus utility functions
19322 @cindex utility functions
19324 @cindex internal variables
19326 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
19327 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
19328 Below is a list of the most common ones.
19332 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
19333 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
19334 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
19336 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
19337 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
19338 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
19340 @item gnus-group-real-name
19341 @findex gnus-group-real-name
19342 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
19345 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
19346 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
19347 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
19348 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
19350 @item gnus-get-info
19351 @findex gnus-get-info
19352 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
19354 @item gnus-group-unread
19355 @findex gnus-group-unread
19356 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
19360 @findex gnus-active
19361 The active entry for @var{group}.
19363 @item gnus-set-active
19364 @findex gnus-set-active
19365 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
19367 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
19368 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
19369 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
19372 @item gnus-continuum-version
19373 @findex gnus-continuum-version
19374 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
19375 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
19378 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
19379 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
19380 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
19382 @item gnus-news-group-p
19383 @findex gnus-news-group-p
19384 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
19386 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
19387 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
19388 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
19390 @item gnus-server-to-method
19391 @findex gnus-server-to-method
19392 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
19394 @item gnus-server-equal
19395 @findex gnus-server-equal
19396 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
19398 @item gnus-group-native-p
19399 @findex gnus-group-native-p
19400 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
19402 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
19403 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
19404 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
19406 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
19407 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
19408 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
19410 @item group-group-find-parameter
19411 @findex group-group-find-parameter
19412 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
19413 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
19415 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
19416 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
19417 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
19419 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
19420 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
19421 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
19423 @item gnus-check-backend-function
19424 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
19425 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
19426 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
19429 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
19433 @item gnus-read-method
19434 @findex gnus-read-method
19435 Prompts the user for a select method.
19440 @node Backend Interface
19441 @subsection Backend Interface
19443 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
19444 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
19445 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
19446 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
19447 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
19448 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
19450 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
19451 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
19452 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
19453 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
19454 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
19455 been opened, the function should fail.
19457 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
19458 name. Take this example:
19462 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
19463 (nntp-port-number 4324))
19466 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
19467 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
19469 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
19470 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
19471 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
19473 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
19474 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
19475 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
19477 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
19478 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
19479 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
19480 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
19481 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
19482 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
19485 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
19486 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
19487 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
19488 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
19491 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
19494 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
19497 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
19498 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
19499 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
19500 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
19501 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
19502 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
19506 @node Required Backend Functions
19507 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
19511 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
19513 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
19514 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
19515 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
19516 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
19518 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
19519 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
19520 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
19521 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
19523 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
19524 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
19525 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
19526 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
19527 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
19528 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
19529 number, do maximum fetches.
19531 Here's an example HEAD:
19534 221 1056 Article retrieved.
19535 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
19536 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
19537 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
19538 Subject: Re: Something very droll
19539 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
19540 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
19542 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
19543 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
19544 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
19548 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
19549 these in the data buffer.
19551 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
19555 head = error / valid-head
19556 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
19557 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
19558 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
19559 header = <text> eol
19562 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
19563 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
19567 nov-buffer = *nov-line
19568 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
19569 field = <text except TAB>
19572 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
19576 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
19578 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
19579 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
19581 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
19582 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
19583 server. In fact, it should do so.
19585 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
19586 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
19589 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
19591 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
19592 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
19595 There should be no data returned.
19598 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
19600 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
19601 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
19602 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
19603 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
19605 There should be no data returned.
19608 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
19610 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
19611 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
19612 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
19613 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
19615 There should be no data returned.
19618 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
19620 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
19622 There should be no data returned.
19625 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
19627 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
19628 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
19629 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
19630 it would be nice if that were possible.
19632 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
19633 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
19634 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
19635 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
19636 into its article buffer.
19638 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
19639 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
19640 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
19641 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
19642 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
19643 on successful article retrieval.
19646 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
19648 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
19649 making @var{group} the current group.
19651 If @var{FAST}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
19654 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
19657 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
19660 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
19661 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
19662 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
19663 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
19664 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
19665 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
19666 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
19667 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
19670 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
19671 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
19672 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
19676 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
19678 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
19679 a no-op on most backends.
19681 There should be no data returned.
19684 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
19686 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
19689 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
19692 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
19693 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
19696 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
19697 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
19700 active-file = *active-line
19701 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
19703 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
19706 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
19707 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
19708 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
19711 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
19713 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
19714 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
19715 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
19716 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
19717 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
19718 clear if the posting could not be completed.
19720 There should be no result data from this function.
19725 @node Optional Backend Functions
19726 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
19730 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
19732 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
19733 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
19734 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
19736 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
19737 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
19738 former is in the same format as the data from
19739 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
19740 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
19743 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
19747 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
19749 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
19750 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
19751 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
19752 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
19753 should return the (altered) group info.
19755 There should be no result data from this function.
19758 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
19760 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
19761 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
19762 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
19763 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
19764 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
19765 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
19766 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
19767 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
19769 There should be no result data from this function.
19772 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
19774 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
19775 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
19776 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as IMAP) however carry all
19777 information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to propagate
19778 the mark information to the server.
19780 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
19783 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
19786 Range is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. Action is
19787 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
19788 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
19789 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
19790 mentioned) marks. Mark is a list of marks; where each mark is a
19791 symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
19792 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
19793 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
19794 not limit itself to theese.
19796 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
19797 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
19798 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
19799 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
19801 An example action list:
19804 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
19805 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
19806 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
19809 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
19810 mark on (currently not used for anything).
19812 There should be no result data from this function.
19814 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
19816 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
19817 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
19818 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
19819 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
19820 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
19822 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
19823 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
19824 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
19827 There should be no result data from this function.
19830 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
19832 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
19833 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
19834 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
19835 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
19836 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
19837 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
19838 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
19840 There should be no result data from this function.
19843 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
19845 The result data from this function should be a description of
19849 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
19851 description = <text>
19854 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
19856 The result data from this function should be the description of all
19857 groups available on the server.
19860 description-buffer = *description-line
19864 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
19866 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
19867 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
19868 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
19871 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
19873 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
19875 There should be no return data.
19878 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
19880 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
19881 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
19882 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
19883 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
19884 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
19887 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
19890 There should be no result data returned.
19893 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
19896 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
19897 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
19899 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
19900 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
19901 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
19902 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
19903 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
19904 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
19906 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
19907 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
19910 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
19911 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
19913 There should be no data returned.
19916 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
19918 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
19919 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
19920 this function in short order.
19922 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
19923 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
19925 There should be no data returned.
19928 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
19930 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
19931 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
19933 There should be no data returned.
19936 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
19938 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
19939 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
19940 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
19942 There should be no data returned.
19945 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
19947 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
19948 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
19950 There should be no data returned.
19955 @node Error Messaging
19956 @subsubsection Error Messaging
19958 @findex nnheader-report
19959 @findex nnheader-get-report
19960 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
19961 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
19962 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
19963 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
19964 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
19965 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
19968 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
19970 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
19973 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
19974 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
19975 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
19976 takes one argument---the server symbol.
19978 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
19979 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
19980 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
19983 @node Writing New Backends
19984 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
19986 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
19987 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
19988 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
19989 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
19990 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
19993 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
19994 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
19995 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
19997 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
19998 package called @code{nnoo}.
20000 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
20001 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
20007 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
20008 parameters. For instance:
20011 (nnoo-declare nndir
20015 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
20016 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
20019 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
20020 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
20021 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
20023 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
20024 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
20025 a function in those backends.
20028 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
20029 "Where nndir will look for groups."
20030 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
20033 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
20034 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
20035 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
20037 @item nnoo-define-basics
20038 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
20042 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
20046 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
20047 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
20048 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
20050 @item nnoo-map-functions
20051 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
20052 functions from the parent backends.
20055 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
20056 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
20057 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
20060 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
20061 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
20062 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
20063 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
20066 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
20067 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
20068 haven't already been defined.
20074 nnmh-request-newgroups)
20078 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
20079 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
20080 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
20085 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
20088 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
20089 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
20093 (require 'nnheader)
20097 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
20099 (nnoo-declare nndir
20102 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
20103 "Where nndir will look for groups."
20104 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
20106 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
20107 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
20110 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
20111 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
20112 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
20114 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
20115 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
20117 ;;; Interface functions.
20119 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
20121 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
20122 (setq nndir-directory
20123 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
20125 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
20126 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
20127 (push `(nndir-current-group
20128 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
20130 (push `(nndir-top-directory
20131 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
20133 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
20135 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
20136 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
20137 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
20138 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
20139 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
20143 nnmh-status-message
20145 nnmh-request-newgroups))
20151 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
20152 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
20154 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
20155 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
20156 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
20157 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
20159 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
20160 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
20165 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
20168 The abilities can be:
20172 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
20174 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
20176 This backend supports both mail and news.
20178 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
20181 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
20182 articles and groups.
20184 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
20185 true for almost all backends.
20186 @item prompt-address
20187 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
20188 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
20189 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
20193 @node Mail-like Backends
20194 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
20196 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
20197 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
20198 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
20199 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
20202 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
20203 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
20204 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
20207 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
20208 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
20211 This function takes four parameters.
20215 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
20218 @item exit-function
20219 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
20221 @item temp-directory
20222 Where the temporary files should be stored.
20225 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
20226 performed for one group only.
20229 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
20230 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
20231 find the article number assigned to this article.
20233 The function also uses the following variables:
20234 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
20235 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
20236 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
20237 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
20241 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
20242 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
20246 @node Score File Syntax
20247 @subsection Score File Syntax
20249 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
20250 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
20251 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
20253 Here's a typical score file:
20257 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
20264 BNF definition of a score file:
20267 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
20268 element = rule / atom
20269 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
20270 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
20271 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
20272 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
20274 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
20275 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
20276 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
20277 date-header = "date"
20278 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
20279 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
20280 score = "nil" / <integer>
20281 date = "nil" / <natural number>
20282 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
20283 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
20284 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
20285 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
20286 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
20287 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
20288 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
20289 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
20290 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
20291 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
20292 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
20293 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
20294 exclude-files / read-only / touched
20295 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
20296 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
20297 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
20298 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
20299 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
20300 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
20301 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
20302 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
20303 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
20304 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
20305 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
20306 eval = "eval" space <form>
20307 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
20310 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
20313 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
20314 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
20315 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
20316 one looong line, then that's ok.
20318 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
20319 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20323 @subsection Headers
20325 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
20326 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
20327 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
20328 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
20330 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
20331 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
20332 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
20333 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
20334 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
20335 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
20336 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
20338 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
20339 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
20340 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
20341 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
20342 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
20344 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
20345 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
20351 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
20352 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
20354 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
20355 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
20356 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
20357 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
20359 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
20363 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
20366 is transformed into
20369 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
20372 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
20373 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
20376 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
20379 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
20380 is slightly tricky:
20383 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
20389 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
20392 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
20398 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
20405 and is equal to the previous range.
20407 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
20408 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
20409 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
20413 range = simple-range / normal-range
20414 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
20415 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
20416 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
20417 number *[ " " contents ]
20420 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
20421 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
20422 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
20423 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
20424 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
20429 @subsection Group Info
20431 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
20432 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
20433 describes the group.
20435 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
20436 second is a more complex one:
20439 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
20441 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
20442 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
20444 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
20447 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
20448 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
20449 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
20450 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
20451 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
20452 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
20453 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
20454 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
20455 this section is about.
20457 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
20458 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
20459 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
20461 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
20464 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
20465 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
20466 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
20467 group = quote <string> quote
20468 ralevel = rank / level
20469 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
20470 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
20471 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
20473 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
20474 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
20475 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
20476 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
20479 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
20480 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
20483 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
20484 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
20487 @item gnus-info-group
20488 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
20489 @findex gnus-info-group
20490 @findex gnus-info-set-group
20491 Get/set the group name.
20493 @item gnus-info-rank
20494 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
20495 @findex gnus-info-rank
20496 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
20497 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
20499 @item gnus-info-level
20500 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
20501 @findex gnus-info-level
20502 @findex gnus-info-set-level
20503 Get/set the group level.
20505 @item gnus-info-score
20506 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
20507 @findex gnus-info-score
20508 @findex gnus-info-set-score
20509 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
20511 @item gnus-info-read
20512 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
20513 @findex gnus-info-read
20514 @findex gnus-info-set-read
20515 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
20517 @item gnus-info-marks
20518 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
20519 @findex gnus-info-marks
20520 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
20521 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
20523 @item gnus-info-method
20524 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
20525 @findex gnus-info-method
20526 @findex gnus-info-set-method
20527 Get/set the group select method.
20529 @item gnus-info-params
20530 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
20531 @findex gnus-info-params
20532 @findex gnus-info-set-params
20533 Get/set the group parameters.
20536 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
20537 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
20539 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
20540 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
20541 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
20542 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
20545 @node Extended Interactive
20546 @subsection Extended Interactive
20547 @cindex interactive
20548 @findex gnus-interactive
20550 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
20551 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
20552 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
20555 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
20556 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
20561 The best thing to do would have been to implement
20562 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
20563 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
20564 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
20565 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
20566 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
20567 @code{interactive}.
20569 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
20574 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
20575 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
20579 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
20580 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
20581 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
20584 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
20588 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
20592 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
20598 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
20599 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
20603 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
20604 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
20605 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
20607 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
20608 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
20609 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
20610 Gnus, that's very useful.
20612 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
20613 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
20614 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
20615 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
20616 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
20617 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
20618 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
20619 following function:
20622 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
20626 (,function ,@@args))
20630 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
20631 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
20632 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
20635 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
20636 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
20637 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
20639 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
20640 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
20641 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
20644 @node Various File Formats
20645 @subsection Various File Formats
20648 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
20649 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
20653 @node Active File Format
20654 @subsubsection Active File Format
20656 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
20657 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
20660 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
20663 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
20664 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
20665 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
20666 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
20667 no.general 1000 900 y
20670 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
20673 active = *group-line
20674 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
20675 group = <non-white-space string>
20677 high-number = <non-negative integer>
20678 low-number = <positive integer>
20679 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
20682 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
20683 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
20686 @node Newsgroups File Format
20687 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
20689 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
20690 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
20691 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
20694 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
20695 Here's the definition:
20699 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
20700 group = <non-white-space string>
20702 description = <string>
20707 @node Emacs for Heathens
20708 @section Emacs for Heathens
20710 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
20711 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
20712 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
20713 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
20714 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
20715 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
20716 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
20720 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
20721 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
20726 @subsection Keystrokes
20730 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
20733 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
20736 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
20737 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
20738 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
20739 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
20740 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
20741 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
20743 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
20744 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
20745 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
20746 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
20747 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
20748 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
20749 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
20751 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
20752 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
20753 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
20754 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
20755 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
20756 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
20757 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
20759 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
20760 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
20761 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
20762 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
20763 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
20769 @subsection Emacs Lisp
20771 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
20772 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
20773 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
20774 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
20776 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
20777 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
20778 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
20779 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
20780 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
20781 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
20782 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
20785 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
20786 write the following:
20789 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
20792 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
20793 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
20794 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
20797 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
20798 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
20799 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
20800 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
20801 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
20803 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
20804 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
20805 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
20809 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
20813 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
20816 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
20817 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
20820 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
20823 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
20824 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
20827 @include gnus-faq.texi